Operation: REDISCOVERY
by YACOV
Summary: In their senior year of college, five strangers were recruited to fight a group called the KND. But why do these strangers find each other so familiar? And are they on the right side?
1. Senior year

Disclaimer: I do not own Codename: Kids Next Door or any of its affiliates. And much to my chagrin I do not write scripts for the show.

Hope you like the story

**THE TIMES**

To Nigel Uno it felt as though he had been tossing and turning in his sheets a matter of moments before his alarm clock sounded. It was 6:30, and he still had to finish writing his lesson plans for the lesson on long division that he would give to his fourth grade class today.

For some reason, he had been having short, fitful sleep for a few weeks now. It had begun at the start of senior year when he started his first full-time student teaching position in the fourth grade class at Gallagher Elementary. He had been working through Cleveland State University, looking forward to senior year since he started. Kids had always fascinated him, mostly because he could remember so little of his own childhood. But he hoped to make these moments with his students memorable and maybe feel some of the simple childhood joy himself.

Yet his involvement with these kids seemed to cause him depression and frustration at the lack of experiences from his own childhood. It didn't make sense. He had wonderful parents whom he loved and who loved him in return, and he had friends throughout most of his life, despite his overbearing nature, even a girlfriend here and there. So why didn't he remember any of it?

What happened to his adventures? His parents said he often had picnics and sleepovers up in his little Treehouse, why couldn't he remember those? Where did all those years in grade school go? Surely things had happened, so why couldn't he remember any of it?

He'd lost a good deal of strength over this dilemma, not to mention a good deal of weight as he stared as his thin, ragged face in the mirror over the sink as he brushed his teeth.

Nigel had tried to get away from all those feelings sophomore year when he took a semester in London, England. He'd gotten to visit his dad's old neighborhood and see his aunts and uncles on his mom's side, and being around British people was a good experience for him, but it had only been a temporary solution to his psychological problems.

_Gotta stay up_. He thought. _Those kids aren't going to be fourth graders forever._

He felt some remorse when he reflected on this obvious truth.

* * *

Hoagie P. Gilligan Jr. was up within half a second of his alarm clock going off. Three years of training on and off at a U.S. Air Force Base will do that to you. 

Hoagie came from a single parent family and had a younger brother that had started college last year, so money had always been tight for their family. Hoagie had gotten a lot of scholarships through science awards, but not enough to carry him through a good school and leave his mom with enough to provide for his little brother Tommy and allow her to retire by 60 – so Hoagie had gotten an ROTC scholarship through the Air Force as an Electrical Engineer for Army Helicopters.

A lot of people thought it was a crazy idea, especially since Hoagie was by nature a rather peaceful person. But his father had been a pilot and being around aircraft gave Hoagie a sense of attachment to his father that pictures and stories from his mom and grandmother never could.

Hoagie had begun with the expectation that he would breeze through the engineering program (he was naturally very competent with physics and inventing) and after completing his service he'd go into private investigation. Engineering was Hoagie's specialty, but solving mysteries was his passion, and the training in the military had certainly firmed out his figure.

Yet as time went on, Hoagie found that private investigation was more of a fantasy job and a hobby, while engineering was really more of a calling in life. Job prospects were also looking better in engineering for the future.

Being a serviceman also gave Hoagie a bonus when it came to life in society – people were much more respective of a man in uniform, and Hoagie didn't have the best people skills, especially with all of his attempts to make jokes and puns that always left his audience laughing at how stupid he was rather than at the quality of his humor. His poor humor and lame social antics had earned him the nickname "Gilligan" among friends in the service, but he didn't mind. He even went so far as to call some of his squad members "Professor" and "Skipper".

None of the guys in the outfit talked much about life before the military, except when it involved a girl or something crazy that they had tried as a freshman and suffered embarrassing consequences that left them no wiser than before. Hoagie felt embarrassed sometimes because he didn't have much to say. Mostly because he couldn't remember doing very much with his life before joining, and very little about what happened when he was young.

* * *

Kuki Sanban needed two clocks to wake her up in the morning: one to wake her and then be ignored so she could grab some last precious moments of rest, and another to tell her she had fifteen minutes to shower, brush her teeth, comb her hair, and grab a set of her signature black tights and large green sweaters or the clothes that her mother had sent her and never worn. And every morning she ran out to her classes, and the clothes her mother had sent her three months ago were still in the box with tissue paper as just as it had been upon arrival in her room. 

She hardly ever wore make up. Many of her friends told her she was super lucky to be so blessed with a kind of natural beauty that outshone the artificial beauty of so many others at their school.

Kuki was at school, studying to become a nurse. She had found a calling in life with children, mostly because she was still very childlike herself. That much became evident to anyone who entered her dorm room. It was hard to move through all the plushies she had scattered around. And it was hard to find anywhere to sit, since the dozens of Rainbow Monkeys she had for companions took most of the flat surfaces.

She was in the top percentile of her class in the Nursing School at the Medical University of Ohio, president of the Rainbow Monkey Club (which wasn't likely to survive her graduation) and the resident whiz girl on Traditional Asian Medicine. She'd spent a year living abroad with her grandparents in Japan her junior year and she had taken several classes on acupuncture and herbal medicine.

A lot of the girls called her the Witch Doctor for fun.

Though Kuki was very chipper and had many happy things to surround her in her life, she herself felt somewhat empty most of the time. There was something of a gap in her memory of grade school. She could remember being bored with classes and the family get-togethers and special moments in family life, even an occasional slumber party. But it felt as though a big chunk of her life at that time had just been wiped away.

It hadn't matter much in high school, when everyone was just trying to outdo one another in being cool and popular and no one was interested in your feelings, so you just kinda put them aside. But college was different. You wanted to get to know people, know their feelings, their passions, their fears, _their past_.

And this need to know brought Kuki back to the realization that her past was in pieces.

She left her dorm and proceeded to class. Several guys and girls said 'hi' to her as she walked and she eagerly waved back with a big smile on her face, but she didn't feel like she was smiling very much on the inside. She felt unfulfilled and lonely. A lot of guys had approached her and asked her out, and she was never one to say no, but she never _got with_ any of them, despite repeated advances.

Kuki had never been very successful in the area of romance; she had very traditional expectations of her man. She believed in true love and soul mates, and wanted the love of some noble, princely man. The guys called her a flirt and the girls called her naïve. She sometimes called herself hopeless…

But she persevered with her studies and kept her eye on her career and that made life more predictable, though not altogether easier or enjoyable…

* * *

Wallabee Beetles didn't need an alarm clock to let him know it was time to get up. His body had a natural sense of time that allowed him to fall asleep at reasonable times and wake up around the right time every morning. His time abroad had taught him a lot about life, and this natural ability to wake up and the accompanying discipline to get up had come with it. 

Wally (as most people called him) had gone to Australia in the summer following his high school graduation and met Meng Jing kuang through his uncle (who was a professor at the Australian College of Sports Therapy). The man was in his early seventies and had a wiry frame, but he could move with the speed and agility of a monkey. Wally had always had a love of martial arts, and was eager to learn from this old-style master. He even got permission from his parents to spend a year living with the strange old man while he took classes at the college.

It had been two years since Wally had come back to America and transferred into the Medical University of Ohio and the Physical Therapy department. He aspired to become a physical therapist and open his own dojo/clinic. Wally had even started a club focusing around martial arts, which he called the Young Masters Club. He had several members both boy and girl, and most everyone treated him with a great deal of respect.  
Mostly because they knew he was a very capable fighter and was only too ready to show it.

Yet despite Wally's tough front he was actually a rather softhearted individual. He hardly had any real 'friends' and he was a little slow to get involved with other people. His tough guy attitude was a good defense mechanism, but it wasn't who he really was.

Wally couldn't remember much from his childhood, other than the times he had been bored with school and the Bring you Daughter to Work Days his dad always dragged him to. Wally had asked his parents about his childhood, but the fact was he was rarely home – they said he would always sleep over in a Treehouse with a boy whose name he couldn't recall, and he had always been very clandestine about the things he did there.

Wally gave the illusion of someone driven and sure about life, but the fact was, he was very much alone and unsure, and in some ways, he was actually quite timid. It was hard to be so sure of life's direction if you hardly knew where it set out from.

* * *

Abigail Lincoln had a digital alarm clock with a shrill electrical ring that many had agreed could wake someone up from a coma. So it was that every morning when it went off, it left her so woken up that she didn't have the audacity to go back to bed. 

She enjoyed going to Oberlin College and she had a good feeling about her majors: a double in English and French. But she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with herself when she got out of college.

Abby was one of those naturally _cool_ people who were always very chill and relaxed. Could go with the flow and hardly complain, and this made her very desirable among the male students. There wasn't a single fraternity brother that hadn't tried to get close to Abby, but she was a very driven girl with a plan to take care of her concerns and her education before she considered hooking up with any of the guys that approached her. Lots of people had said she would end up a spinster, but she didn't care – she was just one of those kinds of girls that didn't give a care what anyone thought of her, she knew who and what she was.

…_mostly_

Abby had a hard time remembering experiences from her childhood. She often had a feeling that her older sister Cree at least had some idea about what Abby's childhood had been like, she was a teenager for most of the time that Abby couldn't remember. But Cree never let on about it.

Abby and Cree had always had an unsteady relationship since Abby had always looked up to Cree as a role model, but Cree had a tendency to play the bully big sister and this made cooperation difficult.

Cree was now had a Masters in Chemistry and had a position as a high school science teacher in New York. She and Abby shared emails frequently but rarely called one another, and they saw each other on even less-rare occasions.

Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln were of little or no help since Abby had spent most of her free time outside the house with friends, but she couldn't remember having had any friends, except one short blonde kid with an Australian accent who was in most of her classes. But she couldn't even remember _his_ name anymore it was so long ago.

Though Abby could always make it seem as though the world didn't really affect her or cause her trouble, it often did. She was quite lonely despite the roguish attitude that was her standard behavior, and she longed to have some friends that she could really connect with. But most of the kids at her school that she thought were at least potential friends were just like her: quiet, introverted and career driven.

* * *

So it was that these five strangers began their senior year of college. Having no memory of their former days of glory, or the bonds of friendship and love that they shared through the most dire and desperate of circumstances. 

They were each alone and needing someone or something to free them from themselves and their own ambitions…

And in time, everything would change…


	2. The Offer

**THE OFFER**

Nigel Uno was on his lunch break – it seemed that his life would always be structured in small increments of time: 45 minutes for history, 30 for reading, 15 for recess, another 45 for language arts, 50 for lunch, 30 for quiet reading, 45 for music, 60 for physical education and another 45 for math. Day in and day out leading lectures, discussing assignments, grading papers and quizzes and occasionally spiced with a project or fire drill that only served as a break from the monotony of 4th grade learning.

Nigel didn't mind the mundane tasks of grading and teaching basic education to children; he found it jointly stimulating and soothing. But still he longed for a little more excitement – something to just wake him up and jumpstart his life.

The note came that afternoon…

* * *

The last bell rang and the children were dismissed – they filed out of the classroom very orderly, they knew that Mr. Uno was very traditional in his methods of teaching. Most said it was because he was British. Regardless, he had kept several students back for an extra half hour if they ever went running through the classroom or were at all disruptive. 

As they filed out, someone left a note on Mr. Uno's desk. He didn't see it when it was deposited so he never knew exactly who left it – it may well have been someone who walked into his classroom from the hall, he was too engrossed in his paper work to notice.

The note was sealed like an invitation to a garden party, so Nigel assumed it was probably from one of the students who had a birthday, or perhaps one of the teachers was having a celebration for some distant relative and wanted to introduce the charming you Mr. Uno – he had become quite popular among the staff at Gallagher. When he opened the note however it had contents very different from what he had expected – the writing was in Courier style and sounded almost as though it were for a secret agent:

* * *

_Mr. Uno,_

_We represent an organization with interests involving the sanctity of the safety and education of the children of America and across the globe. Our organization has recently viewed your credentials and is interested in recruiting your services for a number of special assignments for which we would require your exceptional skills._

_If you are interested, there is a black car parked outside the main entrance ready to take you to the airport and meet with us at our headquarters. We have secured you a private flight and spoken to your school's administration to give you leave to make this trip. If after meeting with us you still do not feel up to the task of joining you will be returned to Cleveland and your regular life… the details of joining and the work expected of you in this new position will be explained upon your arrival._

_DAFDTL_

end transmission

* * *

Nigel was a little stunned when he read this and at first thought it was an elaborate joke that his senior teachers played on student instructors. Nevertheless he was somewhat interested to see if perhaps that black car was sitting outside the school and that private plane were waiting for him at the airport. It sounded like an interesting adventure, despite how unbelievable it appeared. 

Nigel collected his things in his leather briefcase (another novelty that many of his students correlated as being a part of his British habits), and walked out of his classroom. Sure enough, when he opened the front entrance doors of the school there was a black car parked near the sidewalk, and a driver sitting in the front who looked like he would've been at home in the driver's seat of a celebrity's limousine. Nigel walked up to the car and tapped on the window. When the driver rolled the window down, Nigel presented him with the telegram and began:

"Yes hello, I'm…"

"Mr. Uno," the driver interrupted, not bothering to take the note. He wore a pair of dark sunglasses despite the overcast sky and the only part of his body that moved was his mouth. His body might have been made of stone it was so unmoving. "Please get in."

Nigel was a little taken aback by the mechanical motion of this man, but he accepted the invitation with the obedience of a soldier given directs orders from a general.

The ride to the airport was not marked by an extremely disconcerting air, which the driver seemed to exude by his rigidity and silence.

Nigel realized as they passed his college that he didn't have any clothes or toiletries. "Um, do think perhaps we could stop at my room and I could get some…" but again the driver interrupted with a very mechanical, almost lifeless reply.

"Anything you require will be provided for Mr. Uno there will be no need for luggage."

When they arrived at the airport, the car drove through restricted areas, the gates hastily opened by airport personnel who seemed to sense if not already know the authority conveyed by the black car, and none of them wishing to appear as though they were slowing its progress. The driver never turned his head, never slowed, never smiled. Just stared straight ahead with a square, set jaw as though he expected the roads to open before as he willed.

The driver parked the car on a section of the runway where smaller airplanes taxied in and waited to load and unload passengers and luggage. There was only a single small jet stationed here and no ground crew, Nigel assumed the pilot was already on board. Whoever these people were, they sure seemed to have things taken care of.

After several minutes of sitting in the car, the driver, sensing Nigel's hesitation, turned slowly and spoke with obvious finality. "Your flight, Mr. Uno."

Nigel exited the car and walked slowly to the jet. The stairway was down and as he ascended, a gorgeous young woman appeared in the doorway. She was one of those women who would catch you off-guard with a remarkable degree of unexpected beauty, but as soon as you left her you'd forget the pretty face.

"Welcome Mr. Uno, so glad you decided to come. Please have a seat and let me know if there's anything I can get for you."

After riding in a car with a stiff, mechanical driver, this cheerful young woman was a little more than what Nigel thought he could handle, but he said _thank you_ as he entered the plane and took a seat in one of the many large, swiveling seats. Out of habit he fastened his seat belt and almost immediately the plane began taxiing out to the runway and on to take-off.

* * *

The flight took less than an hour and though the attendant offered, Nigel didn't ask for any refreshments or distractions. He was a little too stunned by all that was happening to feel hungry or bored. He didn't even know exactly where he was going or what he should be expecting to see when he arrived. 

The plane landed smoothly and seemed to take no time at all to taxi into the terminal and open the door for its one passenger. Nigel disembarked from the plane and found himself standing at John F. Kennedy Airport. _New York City_!

There was another black car parked by the plane, almost identical to the one that had brought him to the airport in Cleveland. The driver was standing outside his car, but he looked just as rigid and mechanical as the previous.

"Mr. Uno, I'll take you to your meeting." He said in that cold, steel voice that sounded so motorized it may have been a machine speaking.

The black car drove across the runway in a perfectly straight line. Nigel had a sneaking suspicion that the driver would continue on this path, without deviating an inch to the right or left even if he were heading through a crowd of innocent bystanders or headed straight for an obstruction.

The car came to a stop as it entered a small hangar on the far edge of the airport. At first Nigel was confused as to why the man had stopped, when suddenly he sensed the hangar rising around the car… or was he falling. The walls and the ceiling stretched upward until Nigel saw an opening coming up in front of them. As soon as the opening was tall enough for the car to pass through, the driver unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to Mr. Uno with a calm stare that seemed to indicate his passenger should do the same.

Both men exited the vehicle and stepped through the doorway into a great hall of white, plastic tiles. Four other people, two young men and two young women, all about Nigel's age stood at a distance from the entrance. Otherwise the whole scene was a featureless landscape of white light.

"Good day to you Mr. Uno." And with that the driver walked back to his car and both man and machine were raised upwards and a white sheet came up to cover the opening.

"Well, so nice of you all to come," Nigel jumped, as five monotone voices seemed to come from the very walls of the chamber. At the far end of the hall, a large section of the wall swiveled open to reveal a group of five people in business suits sitting on a high bench like justices before a courtroom.

Five seats sprung out of the floor facing the bench and Nigel proceeded to take a seat with the other four, each of them looked very intimidated and confused. Nigel took a good look at everyone as he took a seat in the very center: a stocky young man with brown hair, yellow sunglasses and a pilot's jacket, and a thin young black woman with a long ponytail sat off to his left. To his right sat a lovely young girl with long black hair and an oversized green sweater, and a very fit, though slightly shorter than average young man with a blonde bowl cut and an orange hoodie.

The five people sitting up on the bench seemed to move in synchronized fashion, as though one mind was spread throughout the five bodies.

"So glad you could come on such short notice," they began. Their shared voice was as cold and lifeless as that of the drivers that Nigel had met on the way.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves, we are the DAFDTL…"

Here the young blonde man off to Nigel's right interrupted with a strong Australian accent… "Sounds like how I spelt daffodil in middle school." Nigel and the other three giggled. "Does that stand for something?" the guy in the pilot jacket asked.

"That is not important at this time." The five-in-one snapped. "Let us proceed. We represent an organization with a goal to making the world peaceful. Obviously no such goal can be accomplished if we are not ready to make efforts to suppress that which attempts to threaten that peace. Which is why we have summoned you all here."

Nigel was wondering if perhaps he was in for more than he had bargained for.

"You see for the past few years, a global terrorist group have been making efforts to recruit children into their cells, bringing destruction and suffering to nations all over the world. Their common logo is relatively innocent: The Kids Next Door. Our organization has been given authorization from the federal government to combat these terrorists and suppress their attacks on society…"

Nigel was hearing every word of the sales-pitch, but he felt as though he weren't really in this room, wasn't really hearing this – like when something sounds so unbelievable you're convinced you're dreaming. I mean seriously: Nigel Uno – fight terrorists?

"…so here is the deal," it seemed the presentation was wrapping up, "if you accept this offer you will go where we instruct you, you will conduct top secret missions with set objectives. If you are ever caught we will disavow all knowledge of your existence. We have arranged with your respective schools to excuse you for these assignments and provide you with time to make up work in your courses.  
"You will never use your real names while amongst your fellow operatives and will be identified by the codenames which we shall assign you. And as a reward for your services, you will each be paid a fee of $200,000 at the conclusion of your service – which will culminate at the end of next March. Are there any questions?"

_More than I can name_, Nigel thought to himself, so he didn't bother trying to put any of them into words.  
The black girl off to his left had something to say: "Yeah, what exactly will these 'missions' entail us doing?"

"That all depends on your abilities, of which we are most greatly aware of. All of you were drawn from a pool of hundreds of thousands of students all over the country for your individual talents, and we intend to use those talents only where they are of use. Don't be concerned about being given any impossible tasks, we do have your best interests in mind."

"But you're asking us to fight _terrorism_," the girl to Nigel's right spoke for the first time, "isn't this dangerous?"

"As we stated before, we won't put you in any situation you won't be capable of handling. Most of your missions will be of the lowest possible risk and most will involve collecting intelligence.  
"Now, if any among you feel that you are not up to the task – there is a door behind you through which you are free to leave."

Nigel turned around and saw that the door had indeed opened again: this time the elevator platform was empty. Every bit of common sense in Nigel was screaming for him to get up and march right out that door and not take a single glance back, but it was the mention of the children involved that made him hesitate the most. He hadn't gone into teaching to turn away from children who had problems when he felt it was going to be a lot of work – and he felt he had a duty to help any child who needed it. As he sat debating this thought, the door closed.

"Splendid," the quintet proudly declared, "now that we know who intends to stay it is necessary for us to assign you your names. Reach under your seats and you will find all the documents for your name as well as your occupation and the occupations of your co-operatives in our organization."

Nigel reached under the chair and found several folders, which he immediately set to perusing as soon as he withdrew them from the slot. His file was on the top. _Numbuh 1_ was what it said under **Codename,** _Team Leader_ under **Occupation.** He was stunned to think that he would be in charge of anything, he had been expecting a more subordinate role, perhaps an underling to a senior member of this agency.

He set to looking through the other folders in his hands:

**Numbuh 2 – Pilot/Tech Specialist/Communications**. It said that he had military experience and would be in charge of aerial superiority and weapon manufacturing for the team, as well as providing communication while in the midst of an operation. Nigel felt a little comforted by having someone with military training around. 

**Numbuh 3 – Reconnaissance/Diversionary Tactician/Medical Officer**. This girl had medical experience in basic nursing, but she knew enough to keep a person alive long enough to reach a hospital should any operative encounter an emergency situation requiring medical aid. She had been in gymnastics for many years and had remained athletic throughout her college tenure. She could indeed provide a great deal of diversion if necessary.

**Numbuh 4 – Combat-Expert/Assault Leader**. This guy had been in martial arts from about the age of six and had been trained in old-style martial arts in Australia. He had a long record of fights from as far back as when he started grade school. This made Nigel feel both secure and nervous at the same time – someone who was that powerful and that aggressive was as much an asset as they were a liability if they couldn't take orders.

**Numbuh 5 – Infiltration/Espionage**. This girl seemed to have made disappearance and near invisibility an art form throughout her life. She too was a very proficient athlete and had done gymnastics and martial arts for many years. Her quiet, non-threatening demeanor often made her blend in with her surroundings, and she had a great deal of experience with computers, which would be important for her assignments.

* * *

As Nigel went over these credentials he began to wonder why exactly he had been chosen to be a part of this team. The rest of these guys seemed capable of much more than he was – they'd had experience in their respective fields and were relatively seasoned – he was just a mild-mannered student-teacher, what exactly did the agency see in him? 

"Now then," the quintet of monotones woke Nigel from his concentration, "if you please." And as they spoke, a door opened to Nigel's right. Picking up the files and feeling uneasy about what was awaiting him just beyond that doorway he proceeded with the other four into the next room.

As they came through, the five strangers began introducing themselves, remembering to use their codenames. As they were getting to know one another, their superiors followed through the doorway and called their attention back:

"Now then, let us get you settled, and tomorrow you'll begin your first assignments…"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Let me know what you think – thanx for the reviews. 


	3. First Mission First Kiss?

**FIRST MISSION**

The deal had been struck almost a week ago. Numbuhs 1 through 5 had spent the last few days doing simulations, practicing gymnastics and stealth movements, and combat maneuvers. Numbuh 2 had focused his attention on learning about the arsenal of weapons, armor and vehicles at their disposal, calibrating them for combat use and getting a feel for how they could be used.

Numbuh 4 and Numbuh 5 had worked together, practicing martial arts, and to an extent they included Numbuh 3 in hand-to-hand combat with empty hands or with makeshift weapons. Numbuh 4 was considerably better at in-fighting than anyone, but he worked hard to pass on some of his knowledge. Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 5 had also focused on gymnastics and acrobatics. Numbuh 4 had participated in that as much as he could, but he was a little too heavily built to be as flexible or as freewheeling as the two girls.

Numbuh 3 also devoted a great deal of time to acting, trying to get into the rhythm of adopting different facial expressions and voices; then training to be able to alter her voice and mood to play many different people. It was so she would be able to keep a person's focus on her and hold it for extended periods.

Numbuh 1 meanwhile was trying to get into the mood of directing everyone's activities. The art of Leading was surprisingly easy for him, though why that was he couldn't say. Strangely, everyone found it easy to adopt the codename numbuhs and felt comfortable being addressed as a "Numbuh ", and this was even stranger.

After nearly a week of constant drilling, research and practice the team was assembled in the common meeting room to receive their first assignment. There was a long, low table with five chairs placed around, one at the head with a large flat-screen monitor behind it, and two chairs on either side of the table's length. They sat much the same way they had when they first entered the facility and met with their superiors: Numbuh 1 occupied the head seat, with Numbuhs 3 and 4 off to his right and Numbuhs 2 and 5 to his left.

A buzz of static came over the monitor, and Numbuh 1 swiveled his chair around to listen and observe the incoming message.

It was the monotone quintet.

"Welcome Numbuhs 1 through 5 of the DAFDTL – we have an important assignment that concerns your entire team…"

(The screen switches to a city block of downtown New York near one of the public elementary schools.)

"Our intelligence confirms that the Kids Next Door have established a foot hold in this area. Their group has conscripted bullies, thugs and even drug peddlers to generate funds and begin recruiting more kids to join their ranks. Your mission is simple: neutralize the Kids Next Door Operatives in this area by any means necessary and then proceed to evacuate before they can send reinforcements. You need do no more than disarm and secure them with restraints and our detainment teams will take care of the rest.

"Numbuh 1, you and Numbuh 2 will take position here (_a bright dot lights up atop one of the buildings that overlooks the square_) and direct Numbuhs 4 and 5 to detain each squad of Kids. Numbuh 3 will be in charge of reconnaissance and on the lookout for any incoming reinforcements.

"Numbuh 4, as combat leader you will be expected to take the initiative in detaining the enemy, Numbuh 5 we recommend you work to get around the targets unseen and attack from the rear."

"This concludes your mission parameters, are there any questions."

None.

"Proceed to the hangar, we have a helicopter to take you to the target zone, Numbuh 2 you will be responsible for getting the team in and out."

"End Transmission…"

* * *

Numbuh 1 was a little nervous about this. After all it was his first mission, and he was expected to direct four people and himself through a public square to detain children belonging to a global terrorist organization, and by the tone of his superiors it sounded quite likely that he would be expecting the terrorists to reinforce. Not for the first or last time, Numbuh 1 was beginning to wish he'd just stayed in his office back at Gallagher Elementary; mild-mannered Mr. Uno. 

The 'helicopter' that had been provided was a military vehicle no doubt, but it was well disguised with a coat of white and a broad blue stripe that made it look something like a helicopter for a news team or radio station. The team loaded into the vehicle, everyone dressed in black jumpsuits and girdled with body armor. Everyone also had a two-way communicator attached to the ear to allow them to stay in contact during the operation.

Numbuh 1 looked around at his teammates:

Numbuh 2 looked a little unsure of their ability to stay low profile, but confident in his abilities to fly this machine and his task ahead.

Numbuh 3 was kinda jittery and looked like she might as likely jump for joy or shriek in apprehensive nervousness.

Numbuh 4 had a big grin on his face as he slipped gloves over his hands. Apparently the idea of beating up terrorists, even if they were kids, didn't faze him.

Numbuh 5 kept her cool expression as she tied a black mask around her face and attached several grappling tools and harnesses to her waist.

Numbuh 2 received clearance from the control tower and proceeded into the heart of the city, trying to stay relatively high up so as not to attract unnecessary attention. He set the helicopter down on the roof of a short, broad-roofed building with it's own landing pad and a great big "For Lease" banner draped down the side. Numbuhs 4 and 5 exited quickly, looking around to make sure that no one had spotted them. Numbuh 2 carried equipment out of the aircraft with Numbuhs 1 and 3 and set up an observation post at the edge of the roof. He switched on his monitors and began receiving video feed from the tiny cameras on everyone's headpiece, then switched to a satellite image of the immediate vicinity. There appeared multiple blinking dots, indicating meeting places for Kids Next Door terrorist squads.

Numbuh 1 called the rest of the team over to observe, strangely he felt cool and composed, like he had done similar operations before. Everyone else seemed to have the shared feeling as eue to his or her calm demeanor.

"All right team, we have a total of (_quick count mumbling one… two… three…_)…

"Fifteen total cells that need to be broken up and detained. So, Numbuh 3, proceed along the roof tops and keep up surveillance to make sure we have no surprises, and I'll try and do the same from here…"

Numbuh 3 gave a quick bob of the head to say she understood.

"Numbuh 4, proceed from the lobby of this building to each of these alley ways, find these Kids Next Door and apprehend them. And be careful, if these are terrorists they may have a lot of fire power…"

Numbuh 4 grinned and massaged his knuckles. "Wouldn't be any fun if they didn't."

"Numbuh 5, proceed along with Numbuh 4, but remain on the rooftops and in any bit of sheltered area that prevents you from being seen. Give aid when commencing detainment, but try to come at them from where they won't be expecting."

"Sure thang." She replied in her hip, street lingo.

"Numbuh 2 and I will stay here and direct your movements, if you ever need assistance in direction or in fighting, alert us and I'll provide you with whatever aid I can. Now then team… BATTLE STATIONS!"

Numbuh 1 brought himself down a moment, unsure as to why he had used that cry to rally his team, the rest of the team however proceeded with their instructions, though they too were amazed at how familiar the phrase sounded.

It took a good three hours to complete the mission. It mostly followed the same pattern. Numbuh 4, dressed in black pants and a black cloak walked down an alleyway and found several kids between 10 and 12 loitering behind a dumpster, discussing plans very secretively, then growing defensive the moment he appeared. He'd ask what they were up to; they'd accuse him of being an adult spy. Then he and Numbuh 5, either one of them making the first move or both of them working together would plunge into the thick of the gang, disabling and disarming them of their makeshift weapons in a matter of seconds. Some of those kids really wanted to cause some damage, as the two combatants and two observers inferred from the many weapons that the kids were carrying.

Numbuh 3 had some misgivings about what they were doing, especially since it was children, but she gave up trying to convince the others after the final gang was beaten and a squad of flying machines flew in to reinforce the Kids Next Door.

Numbuh 1 was overall, very pleased with his team's performance. None had sustained any injury or caused any real physical damage to their enemies or left a mess of the city block.

Following the last fight, Numbuhs 3, 4 and 5 proceeded back to the main building and loaded up in the helicopter with Numbuhs 1 and 2.

* * *

That night after returning to base, disassembling their gear and writing up their reports to the DAFDTL (_over which Numbuh 4 gave a great fuss_), the team celebrated their first successful mission with a night out to a fancy restaurant in the city. 

The whole team dressed up in fancy suits and dresses provided in their wardrobes by the DAFDTL and ate and drank merrily. Numbuh 2 and Numbuh 4 scarfed down great quantities of meats and cheese, while Numbuhs 1 and 5 at a little more politely, and Numbuh 3 refused to partake in any of the many seafood and meat dishes that seemed to just disappear as soon appear in front of Numbuhs 2 and 4.

The team toasted with a rich white wine, "And to many more successes to come," as Numbuh 1 so eloquently spoke.

After dinner most of the team decided to catch a cab and return to headquarters, but Numbuh 4 (who said he'd never been to NYC) said that he was going to stay out a little later and cruise around. Take in some of the sites.

Numbuh 3 was interested and went with him.

"I have to admit they do look pretty sweet together," Numbuh 5 stated as she watched the two walking away down the avenue.

"Strange, but the way they act you'd almost think they were old friends," added Numbuh 1.

"I was just thinking that too," remarked Numbuh 2.

* * *

Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 4 walked on for hours, talking about the mission and the whole "fighting terror" thing that they were a part of, until finally in the middle of Central Park Numbuh 3 made them stop and rest on the bench. 

"Only problem is I don't know if I'll be able to get up again," Numbuh 4 teased and Numbuh 3 laughed.

"So where did you grow up Numbuh 4?" she asked sweetly.

"I was born in Australia and lived outside Canberra until I was about four years old, then my dad's company transferred him to Cleveland, and I've lived there pretty much ever since."

"You live in Cleveland?" she was stunned. "I've lived there since I was two, but I don't remember ever having met you before."

Numbuh 4 was also shocked. "Really? You live in Cleveland? I'm surprised I never met you either. Huh… Well what are you doing now Numbuh 3? Besides making the world safe for democracy."

She giggled again and blushed slightly; she was really enjoying his company. "I'm going to MUO, I'm training to become a nurse…"

Here again Numbuh 4's eyes went wide. "MUO! That's where I'm going. Well to the School of Physical Therapy that is."

"No Way!" Numbuh 3 was stunned. "If I had known I would've come over to meet you at some point."

Numbuh 4 blushed at this comment and Numbuh 3 lightly placed her hand over her mouth. She knew she had a knack for acting flirtatious around a cute guy, but this was even more than what was typical by her standards of flirting. Yet it felt as though that was the way she was supposed to talk to Numbuh 4, almost like there was a set protocol for how the two made conversation.

"Hey thanks by the way," Numbuh 4 broke the awkward silence, "…you know for… for spotting those Kids Next Door goons that were coming in behind me and Numbuh 5, you really got us out of trouble there."

"You're welcome." She smiled warmly, and felt herself smiling inside as well.

"So tell me, what do you want to do with Physical Therapy? Private practice or sports trainer?"

"Well sort of both I guess. I wanna open a private practice where I can also teach martial arts. That's what I did most of my freshman year in Australia. Studied P-T all day and trained all night and on the weekends. But yeah I guess I'd probably focus on being a Sports Physical Therapist."

"Wow… I studied abroad too; I went to Japan and lived with my grandparents. I got to take courses on traditional medicine at the college in Tokyo, they taught me how to control a person's energy flow, and how to do acupuncture to relieve the pain of bruises and broken bones and all kinds of stuff. And now all the other students back at school call me the Witch Doctor."

"Cool. So you wanna work in a Traditional Eastern Medicine clinic or something like that?"

"Oh no, I took that mostly just for fun, but who know, it could come in handy someday. Might even impress a few people if I can get it to work really well. But I'm looking into nursing in pediatrics."

"I bet you could go and be a full doctor if you wanted."

"No I don't think so. I wouldn't have the patience for it, and I wouldn't get to be very close to the patients either. No nursing will be more fun, I still get to use all that fun medical lingo and do a few small medical procedures and I get to actually take time to get to know the patient."

Numbuh 4 nodded and smiled as he watched Numbuh 3. He found his eyes wandering between her mouth and her eyes. The mouth moving along without fault in the language and the eyes drooping slightly with fatigue from all they'd been through that day. Wally felt the strangest thing when he was near this girl. There was physical attraction sure, I mean she had a fine figure, a beautiful face, a charming voice and personality and she seemed very sweet. But Wally felt more than that. This girl wasn't just beautiful – something about her just felt 'right'. Wally didn't know how to describe it to himself, it just felt right to be near her.

Kuki found herself slowing down her speech as her eyes became locked with Numbuh 4's. She was feeling an attachment to this boy that she couldn't recall having ever felt with anyone before. All she knew was that she liked it, and she liked him. Sure he seemed a little head-strong and a little savage the way he was able to pick a fight with those kids, but he had an underlying kindness that she could readily detect. This boy had a tough shell, but she was beginning to peal around it and find a soft, sweet inside.

Numbuh 3's eyes started to get heavier, and she felt a pull, like a magnet in her face that was drawing her closer to Numbuh 4. She found her own actions somewhat startling; she had never been so forward with anyone. And though she liked this boy a lot she couldn't tell what it was that was drawing her lips to him at this moment – it was something within that was forcing her to act, something that she neither knew how to control, nor wished to stop or slow down.

Numbuh 4 was feeling a similar sensation as they drew closer. Sure he was inwardly thrilled at the prospect of kissing Numbuh 3, but Wally Beatles wasn't the kind of guy who would on the spur of the moment just kiss a girl he'd met only a few days ago; it just wasn't in his character. No there was something deeper than his conscious self that was making him do this. It wasn't something primal, he had good control over his hormones, but it was like he was performing an action that he'd practiced. Almost like the kung fu forms, a set pattern that he'd trained so many times it was second nature to him.

When their lips met, Numbuh 3 still had her eyes slightly open, but she allowed them to close steadily, and she felt a tingling sensation running from her lips, down the front of her neck, through her chest and to the base of her abdominals, and it felt as though a tiny spring of pleasure was welling up inside her.

Numbuh 4 had had his eyes closed already, and he felt an electric shock run down his front, bathing his chest with a tingling sensation that carried around his ribs to his shoulder blades and traveled back up his spine until it met with the base of his skull and held him steady to keep drinking in this pleasing electric current.

Neither brought a hand to the other's face, neither pressed harder or drew away. The two young lovers sat there; totally transfixed by the pleasurable sensation they were receiving from one another. It only lasted a few seconds, but to the two of them it felt as though it had stretched into its own little window of infinity, never waxing and never waning. Yet the pleasure remained the same from the first moment to the last.

When they both parted, severing that intimate fusion of their bodies, Numbuh 3 still had her eyes closed. Numbuh 4, out of habit of staying alert from all his training, had opened his eyes to see her puckering lips slowly draw back into her flawless face, and felt the gentle wind of a small sigh as it slowly escaped her lips and seemed to cause a quiver to run through her whole frame. He felt his own body act like a mirror to her own, and a similar quiver ran from his core out to his fingers and toes.

Numbuh 3 blinked her eyes open and saw that she and Numbuh 4 were still so close that their noses were almost brushing together. Her eyes grew a little wider as she moved her gaze from his lips up to his eyes. She found two beautiful green orbs, glimmering as they reflected the light from the lamppost above the bench. She wanted to feel that pleasure again, but at the same time she wasn't sure what had caused her to partake of such a pleasure in the first place. She settled her dilemma by tilting her head forward and resting sideways on his shoulder.

It felt unusually comfortable, this position, as she gently breathed in his scent and allowed her eyes to close. It was as if she were ready to fall asleep sitting on that bench with his shoulder as a pillow to hold her vertical. Without thinking, he slowly turned his head until he had his nose fitting snuggly on top of her scalp and his lips flat against her temple. He slowly drew in the scent of her hair and slid his hand across her back and up to her far shoulder. And while he did this, her hands slid, in an almost serpent-like movement around his waist.

A cold wind blew down the path, stirring the autumn leaves that had collected along the path but not yet been raked. The two shivered and drew each other in tighter. Numbuh 3 couldn't believe what she was doing and neither could Numbuh 4. They both felt so at peace, so comfortable and safe in this position that neither of them wanted to do anything that might break the mood.

Numbuh 4 didn't know why he was so comfortable with this girl in his arms, and Numbuh 3 felt much the same. Neither could recall having had a close relationship before, certainly never anything with this level of intimacy. Yet the familiarity of this position was such that it felt as though they had been in it a hundred times before.

Finally, after it seemed the two had been holding one another for many seasons without pause, Numbuh 4 withdrew his arm and moved his head off of Numbuh 3's temple, and she slowly lifted her head from his shoulder, a small crease had formed on her face where her skin had pressed against the seam in his jacket. Numbuh 4 gave a sheepish grin when he saw this.

"We should probably be going home… it's getting late."

"Yeah, yeah it is getting kinda late. Let's, uh, let's keep walking through the park and we'll get a cab when we get to the other side."

The two walked out together. Though Numbuh 4 held Numbuh 3 around the shoulder to keep her warm (for she wasn't wearing very much dress) it was a little awkward for both of them. An entire evening together of getting to know about each other, sharing feelings and hopes and dreams it had seemed that they were starting to make a real connection with a new person. Yet this physical connection that both had felt with such fluency had left them both in a state of confusion. How was it that they had connected so intimately, with such ease? Surely they'd never met before or been friends until first becoming introduced a few days ago, what facilitated this unspoken bond that they were sharing?

Though both Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 4 were pleased to be in each other's company, they were both beginning to sense that there was something more to the situation than what was being explained.

The DAFDTL knew something about them and their three teammates; something from a long time ago that was allowing them to work together as well as they did. And Numbuh 3 and 4 intended to find out what it was…

* * *

**Author's Note:** it may be a few days before i can update, so you have time to let me know what you think of the story. Thank you all so much for the reviews and keep 'em coming and I'll do the same for my chapters... 


	4. Rainbow Monkey World

**SPYING**

Numbuh 3 looked at the grand vista before her with eyes opened wide, drinking in all that there was to see. She was smiling so wide it looked like her face could only barely contain it. Numbuh 4 was squinting as he observed the same sight, and his eyebrows sloped down, giving him a look of absolute forlorn and misery.

"WHY-Y-Y-Y…? he moaned.

Numbuh 3 was astonished.

"How can you possibly be complaining? I mean look how great this is: a mission to RAINBOW MONKEY WORLD, USA!" she was so jubilant she was almost screaming. Numbuh 4 stuck out his tongue, making a gagging sound and an even more pained expression.

"Would you two knock it off and proceed with the mission." Came Numbuh 1's voice over the receivers in their ears. Numbuh 4 winced at the cackling sound and Numbuh 3 clutched her ear in pain.

"Not so loud Numbuh 1." She complained. "Cause if you perforate anyone's ear-drum, don't expect me to fix it."

"Never mind. Just get in there."

"Ugh. I can't believe we flew all the way to Orlando for this crud. Why do I hafta do this anyway? Why isn't Numbuh 5 going in there. I mean at least she's a girl, this probably wouldn't be quite as painful for her."

"Hey, Numbuh 5's takin' care of her end. Now would you just get going and stop whining." Came Numbuh 5's disgruntled voice over the communicators.

Numbuh 4 and Numbuh 3 proceeded towards the park entrance. They were dressed quite normally, Numbuh 4 had on an orange t-shirt with carpenter jeans and white shoes with some dirt and mud smudges to make them look worn in, though this was probably the first occasion that anyone had worn them. Numbuh 3 was wearing a green tank top with black spandex and her green sweater wrapped around her waist; her hair was held back in a bun with chopsticks. Both were wearing thin Ray ban sunglasses and gave the impression of being an ordinary college couple having a day out.

"Remember guys," Numbuh 1 continued, "You're a boyfriend and girlfriend…" Numbuh 3 gave a tiny hiccup when she heard this, and Numbuh 4's face went bright red, but both kept themselves composed and didn't falter as they walked toward the entrance.

"…from University of Central Florida. Numbuh 3, your name is Mumi and you're studying to become a veterinarian. Numbuh 4 your name is Warren, and you're a music major. If you start getting a lot of questions from one of the tourists the job of acting and fabricating answers falls to Numbuh 3. At some point, Numbuh 3, you need to create a distraction near the Sugar Mountain of Love ride to draw the crowd away and to yourself. Numbuh 4, as soon as Numbuh 3 has everyone distracted you go and enter through one of the authorized personnel entrances. Numbuh 5 will be there to help you out in subduing the terrorists inside. Once inside, switch to night-vision by…"

"…Pressing the little button on the right lens rim, I remember the procedures Numbuh 1, give it a rest, I got it under control."

"Just making sure, no harm in being thorough."

"Okay team switch on cameras," came Numbuh 2's voice, and Numbuhs 3 and 4 each turned a small dial on the left lens rim, activating the tiny cameras in their glasses.

Numbuh 4 was excited about being paired with Numbuh 3 for this mission, even if it did involve him having to go into Rainbow Monkey World, and though it was just an act, he liked the idea of playing her boyfriend.

_Why am I thinking these things?_ He thought. _I don't even know this girl_… _and yet I'm thrilled to play pretend-boyfriend? What is up with me?_

He and Numbuh 3 had made no mention to the rest of the team about the intimate moment that they had shared in Central Park a few nights ago, and they'd barely spoken to each other since it happened.

After purchasing their tickets the two undercover agents entered the park and Numbuh 4 headed straight for the Sugar Mountain of Love, wanting to get in, do whatever needed to be done, get out and go back to headquarters in New York. Numbuh 3 however had no intention of getting through this mission with any haste, and as Numbuh 4 was marching towards the Sugar Mountain of Love she twisted his arm and led him away towards some other rides and games.

Numbuh 4 immediately began to complain.

"Num… sorry, Mumi," he corrected with poorly concealed agitation, "is this really necessary? I mean we're dealing with a terrorist threat here, shouldn't we put our focus on getting into that Sugar Mountain thing and securing the weapon store? I mean who knows what those Kids Next Door are planning to do."

_Please don't take me into that stupid, girly excuse of an amusement park. Plea-ea-ease_… He was begging in his head.

She easily countered, "I'm in charge of Diversionary Tactics, and the first thing we have to do is create an illusion of innocence; make it so no one suspects us of being unusual or threatening. What better way to do that than to wander through the park and have a bit of fun? It'll help us blend in."

She covered her receiver so the rest of the team wouldn't hear her as she spoke to Numbuh 4.

"Who knows _Warren_, you might have a bit of fun by accident."  
Numbuh 4 complained to his leader: "Numbuh 1, back me up here."  
"Numbuh 3's right, it may look suspicious if you go straight to the objective. Besides, Numbuh 5 is well concealed, she can afford a few more minutes."

"Oh yeah, take your sweet, sweet time…" Came Numbuh 5's less than enthused voice

Numbuh 4 had little to no reason to object, so he allowed Numbuh 3 to drag him into the thick of the fair. At every turn was a soft, cuddly article of Rainbow Monkey paraphernalia. From pink ear warmers, to pocket-sized Rainbow Monkeys and every conceivable piece of merchandise with the Rainbow Monkey brand name slapped on. Numbuh 4 felt so smothered and overwhelmed by this environment he felt as though he were suffocating. Like when a nightmare gets worse and worse but doesn't diminish in realism.

* * *

After racing Numbuh 3 in Rainbow Monkey go-karts, going through the Cuddly-Wuddly Pagoda three times, and climbing the Rainbow Monkey Jungle Gym, Numbuh 4 was ready to explode. With a face contorted in pain and boredom he turned to Numbuh 3 on his knees, grasped one of her hands and began pleading:

"Please N…_Mumi_, can we just go on with the mission and not do this anymore?"

A group of little girls happened to be walking at that moment. One among them, who had a purple Rainbow Monkey balloon tied around her wrist, stopped to watch the young couple. She brought her hands to her mouth, thinking that she was watching a proposal, like the ones she had seen in the movies. And before racing off with her friends she squealed to Numbuh 3.

"Say yes."

Numbuh 4 blushed and immediately stood up, Numbuh 3 also blushed and giggled as the little girl went by.

"Maybe you should stay on your feet _Warren_, I'm the one that's supposed to attract attention. Come on just one more thing, then we'll go ahead with the mission."

Numbuh 3 brought Numbuh 4 into a picture taking tent. There was a background of open fields and blue skies with a smiling sun and a big beautiful rainbow stretching from one end of the screen to the other. The photographer insisted that the two of them pose behind some Rainbow Monkey cutouts, which they did. Then they took a set of photos of just the two of them standing together, then one of them making goofy faces.

"Hey that was fun," said Numbuh 4 as he started walking out. Truthfully he had had some fun, but was eager to get on with the job.

"Just one more set." Numbuh 3 stopped him from leaving. Numbuh 4 didn't look as enthusiastic as her but he was certainly less morose than before.

"Ok, what theme this time?"  
"Hmm… lets try a macho theme."

Numbuh 4 rolled his eyes but he got into it well enough. For the first picture he brought his fists together as he flexed his abs and chest while Numbuh 3 flexed her arms, holding them off to her sides.

In the next picture, Numbuh 4 tried Numbuh 3's last pose, and she wrapped her arms around one of his biceps and held one foot out behind her – like how an actress holds out her foot in the movies while kissing her true love. This surprised Numbuh 4, but he certainly had no qualms about it. And in the next picture he picked up Numbuh 3 in his arms and held her by the back and under the knees, she laughed and gave a wonderful smile for the camera.

The rest of their pictures involved a lot more playful creativity: Numbuh 3 piggyback riding on Numbuh 4 with her arms around his shoulders while he held her legs as they came out around his hips, the two of them doing 007 back-to-back by making pistols with their fingers, and the two of them trying to make their code numbers with their bodies (which left Numbuh 3 with a sore back from trying to make the bottom arch in 3).

The two came out of the photo station laughing richly.

"A 'hem…" came Numbuh 1's voice over their communicators. The fantasy shattered, Numbuhs 3 and 4 immediately snapped back to reality.

"We're on our way to the objective now Numbuh 1," Numbuh 3 tried to appease him.

"Well would you hurry up, I've been waiting here for more than half an hour." Now Numbuh 5 was the one complaining. "Not that I don't mind a work out, but hanging from a water pipe in a dark room gets tiring after a while."  
"We're on our way Numbuh 5, just hang in there." Numbuh 4 admonished her.  
"Huh, easy for you to say."

As Numbuhs 3 and 4 approached the Sugar Mountain of Love they started to part ways, Numbuh 3 headed towards the center square in front of the attraction, Numbuh 4 to the authorized personnel entrance, and it was then as they tried to part ways that they both realized that they were holding fast to each other's hands. Blushing madly as they let go, Numbuh 3 whispered a quick _good luck_ to Numbuh 4 as he proceeded to the objective.

Inside an unmarked van outside the park, Numbuh 2 and Numbuh 1 were watching the team through the cameras on their glasses. Numbuh 2 put his hand over the microphone on the keyboard and turned to Numbuh 1.

"Is it just my imagination or are those two getting a little _too_ into their acting roles?"

"I think there's some merit to that observation Numbuh 2. Either that or the two of them are naturally good spies. Best check on Numbuh 5, make sure she's ready to proceed."  
"Numbuh 5, hanging in there all right?"  
"One more crack about me _hanging_ and Numbuh 5 is gonna whoop all your butts!"  
"Relax Numbuh 5, it looks like Numbuh 3 is starting the diversion. She's got a big crowd around her… a-a-and… Numbuh 4 just went inside the authorized personnel entrance, he'll be there shortly."

Numbuh 5 breathed a sigh of relief – she'd been hanging from a water pipe like a sloth for almost an hour and her limbs had begun cramping. She had entered the structure earlier in the morning and found a large storehouse of fuel and weapons and dozens of Kids Next Door operatives all over the place. She'd scurried like a fly along the walls and ceiling with the use of suction devices and harnesses, not to mention the aid of several years in gymnastics and acrobatic martial arts.

She spotted Numbuh 4 coming into the middle of the room, making no attempt to keep hidden, just walking right out in the open for everyone to see him. She tightened her muscles, waiting for the exact moment when she would drop and begin the fight.

No sooner had Numbuh 4 stepped into the center of the huge storehouse, when a dozen Kids Next Door surrounded him with drawn 2x4 weapons. One kid of about 11 or 12 who was clearly the leader raised a demanding, though childishly nasal voice.

"All right adult, I thought that Authorized Personnel sign would've been enough to keep you out, so I guess will have to show you out the hard way."

Numbuh 4 glanced up at Numbuh 5 and they both exchanged a wink before he replied.

"Sorry kids, but I think today I'll be the one showing _you_ the exit."

Numbuh 5 came down on the leader, knocking the weapon out of his hands and kicking him into two of the other KND operatives at his side. Numbuh 4 took the advantage of his enemy's surprise and flew spinning like a whirlwind at two heavy-set 12 year olds, knocking their weapons away and sending them sprawling on the floor. Both adults flew at their remaining adversaries, taking care to incapacitate them, but avoid causing any lasting bodily harm.

The whole fight was over in a matter of seconds, and the whole KND guard force was sprawled on the floor, battered, bruised, and beaten. Numbuhs 4 and 5 looked up at one another with expressions of shock and amazement that they had been so effective and had won with such ease.

"Masterfully done guys, the DAFDTL said that they have agents to shut down the ride and remove the weapons without anyone's noticing, so our job is done. Numbuh 3, keep up the ruse just a little longer, Numbuhs 4 and 5, get out of there."

Numbuh 3 had been re-enacting segments of the Rainbow Monkey movies, drawing all the young girls away from the Sugar Mountain of Love ride and all their parents with them. She had even done some of it while doing back flips and cartwheels to captivate everyone's eyes as well as their ears. And her voice in signing the Rainbow Monkey songs had been as flawless as a fine tuned instrument.  
As she saw Numbuhs 4 and 5 come out of the large structure she gracefully bowed and said that she had worn herself out for the day. Everyone clapped and cheered for her and many of the little girls came up and hugged her, saying that they wished they had a friend like her. Numbuh 3 was so taken by everyone's applause and appreciation that it took admonishment from Numbuhs 4 and 5 and eventually Numbuhs 1 and 2 over her earpiece to tell her to move out.

"I guess I need to work on being able to lose the attention as soon as I've gotten it, huh?"

"Nice work Numbuh 3, now I say we blow this Popsicle stand and get back to base in New York. How 'bout it boss?"

"Affirmative Numbuh 5. Nice job team, mission accomplished."

* * *

Numbuhs 1 and 2 hadn't been seen, so they remained in the back of the van while Numbuhs 3 and 4 took the front and drove back to the airport. Numbuh 3 busied herself looking through the photos of her and Numbuh 4 and laughing and teasing Numbuh 4 about his posture and smile the whole way.

"I swear those guys must have known each other before we met. Nobody hits it off that fast."  
"Some people just naturally click Numbuh 5, I don't think there's anything wrong with it."

"She has got a bit of a point Numbuh 2. A lot of things have been happening with amazing ease considering a transition of this magnitude. I don't know how to describe it but I feel something weird when I'm around you guys. I don't know how to describe it, but whenever we go out on a mission I just feel so… I don't know… I guess, _used to it_. I mean giving you guys' orders and referring to you by your Numbuhs. It's almost like I've done it before, it just feels so natural."

"I have to admit, Numbuh 5 has a strange ring to it…"  
"Is that why you keep referring to yourself in the third person?"  
"Shut up Numbuh 2." And she smacked him over the head with one of her gloves.

"One thing I noticed," said Numbuh 1 as the team was seated in the DAFDTL's Jet and flying back to NYC. Numbuh 2 had insisted on flying, but had been denied by the DAFDTL's pilot.  
"Those kids that Numbuhs 4 and 5 attacked, they had Numbers embroidered on their uniforms and in their helmets. I remember there was a Numbuh 67, a… uh, Numbuh 423 and some others I can't remember off the top of my head, but still, they had Codenumbers just like us."

"So what are you saying?" inquired Numbuh 4.  
"I don't know; it just seems a pretty unusual coincidence that both sides of this conflict use the same form of identification."  
"Numbuh 5 thinks that there's something that our old bosses know and aren't telling us. And I say we try and find out what it is."

"You mean steal information?"  
"No Numbuh 2, I mean keep our eyes and ears open for any opportunities to gain some info about us or the DAFDTL, or the Kids Next Door."

"It never hurt to know more about one's enemy," said Numbuh 3 in support.

"Or one's ally." Mumbled Numbuh 1.

* * *

**Author** Let me hear what you think, I'll have another chapter up as soon as I can. 


	5. Missions and Feelings

**CODE MODULE**

_Is he ever going to shut up?_

Hoagie had been going out of his mind, listening to Numbuh 4 going on about Numbuh 3 for the past hour. He was beginning to wish he didn't have to share a room with this guy. It hadn't been so bad at first, Numbuh 4 had come off as being one of those strong-silent types that kept to themselves and usually made for good roommates since they didn't pester those around them with gossip, personal feelings or the many things going on in their heads. Numbuh 4 used to spend the day doing martial arts and listening to lectures on terrorist activity, sometimes he would actually laugh at the jokes that Numbuh 2 gave.  
Now he was just ranting non-stop about this girl. It wasn't that Numbuh 2 wasn't glad that his friend felt so strongly for someone; he just didn't feel it was necessary that he too be involved in the affair.

_What did Numbuh 3 do to him? Why's he so smitten, so energized, so annoying_?

"…I mean she's smart, she's beautiful… my God is she beautiful! …and that giggle of hers could turn a cloudy sky blue and sunny…"

And suddenly Numbuh 4 just stopped.

_HALLELUJAH!_ Numbuh 2 could hear a choir singing in his head.

"Numbuh 4, dude? Something wrong?"

"Yeah there's something wrong," Numbuh 4 sounded almost angry. "I've been going on and on about this girl for like an hour."

…_1 hour and 27 minutes actually_…

"Well obviously you feel something for her and you have some things to say."

"Yeah but it's just, that isn't really my style. I mean I'm usually pretty reserved about my feelings. And I've never felt things like _this_ for a girl before. I mean I had a girlfriend while I was in Australia and a few during high school, but it was never much more than a friendship with some benefits. And I've certainly never fallen head-over-heals for a girl after a few weeks before."

"Well she's as you described her, smart, beautiful, funny and all that jazz. What's not to like?"

"It just doesn't seem quite natural. I mean she and I get along so well it's almost creepy. Like I know how she'll react to certain things and she can guess how I'll react to certain things, I mean what is that?"

_A clue that you're thinking too much and should give it a rest already!_

"I don't know Numbuh 4, but maybe you should tell her how that makes you feel."

"WHAT! I can't do that, then she'll think I'm…"

* * *

"…Weird." Said Numbuh 5 over in the room she shared with Numbuh 3. "That's all I can say girl, weird." 

Numbuh 3 had been behaving much the same way as Numbuh 4, going on and on about how she felt and all the wonderful qualities he had. And Numbuh 5 had feelings very similar to those of Numbuh 2: ..._please stop, give it a rest_ had been repeated in her head more times than she cared to remember.

"I just don't understand it Numbuh 5… I mean there's something about the two of us that just feels right. And it doesn't make sense. We only met a few weeks ago, but you'd think we were old friends reunited after a couple years separation. And also, it's like we're nothing alike:  
He's morose and taciturn, I consider myself pretty pleasant and extroverted."

_And talkative too_… Abby thought

"He's really violent a lot of the time and I pride myself on being gentle. He wants to outdo and outshine everyone, he's boisterous, he's often rude and insensitive and… and what's really weird is, I like him that way."

"Well Numbuh 3 there's that saying that opposites attract. Just be careful you don't get hurt."

"What do you mean Numbuh 5?"

"Well come on Numbuh 3, let's be honest: do you really know him?"

"Sure I know him Numbuh 5, what kind of question is that? He and I are teammates and we both go to the same university, and... and…"

"Does he like dogs or cats? Is he the oldest, youngest or what rank in his family? Does he drink orange juice straight from the bottle and leave it uncapped? Does he cry at a romantic movie…"

"Numbuh 5 what are you talking about?"

"Just saying you know a few basic things about him, but you don't really know him on a deep, personal level. And it's not your fault, I mean the way we're directed by Base Command it's almost as if we aren't allowed to learn much of anything about each other. I know you like him Numbuh 3, (anyone with eyes or ears could tell that) but ask yourself, do you _know_ him?"

Numbuh 3 opened her mouth to answer, but closed it again when she found she didn't know how to answer that. She cared a lot about this boy, more than infatuation or a schoolgirl crush. But she had to concede to Numbuh 5's logic – the fact was she didn't know this boy, even his name was a secret.

Numbuh 3 lay on her bunk bed and clutched one of the Rainbow Monkeys she had smuggled into her backpack when she had received the message from the DAFDTL. She held it tight to her chest and cried a few silent and bitter tears into her pillow, feeling an overwhelming sense of isolation and solitude. Numbuh 5 wasn't going to help her here, and though a part of her wanted to go seek Numbuh 4 for sympathy she knew it was a silly notion.

The fact was, she didn't know him.

She'd kissed him, cuddled with him, shared the embrace of two people in love, and all this without even knowing his name. Though he had some unique facets to him, he was still just a Numbuh to her, and it was when she realized this that she became aware that she too was just a Numbuh to him. He didn't say "Hi Kuki", "Nice job, Kuki", "You're really neat Kuki." No he called her Numbuh 3, she was a quantity, an impersonal Numbuh, and a small one at that. And she wanted for him to think of her as more. She wanted to be someone of quality rather than quantity, and knowing that she wasn't made her cry even more.

_Why am I crying so much over this?_ She thought. _Sure I'm emotional, sure I've cried many times before, but never so much for just one person. Why am I acting this way? I'll bet Numbuh 4 isn't behaving like this.

* * *

_

But he was. He wasn't outwardly crying, Wally had learned how to ignore physical pain and it had helped him equally in ignoring emotional pain as well, but he was lying on his bed with a grim expression, sad to think that he and Numbuh 3 were so distant. She was as much an enigma to him as he must have appeared to her, and it saddened him. He wanted to know this girl, he wanted to know her and be known by her with a name rather than a Numbuh. He didn't want their association with one another to end when next March came around and their job in the DAFDTL ended, he wanted to remain in contact, be her friend and see her around university after classes and on weekends. He wanted to be more than a friend if she liked him as he liked her.

Wally didn't want to keep wallowing in misery so he tried to find another way to keep himself occupied. And after focusing on romance and feelings he had come to notice a few things about the other members of the team that interested him. He decided to test his theory on his roommate:

"Hey Numbuh 2? That Numbuh 5 is pretty cool, huh?"

Hoagie sat up with a jolt. "I thought you were interested in Numbuh 3, or was that whole sermon just for kicks?"

"I didn't say I wasn't interested in Numbuh 3, I just think that Numbuh 5 is pretty cool and I was just curious if you thought so too... don't have to get all defensive."

"I'M NOT GETTING DEFENSIVE." Numbuh 2 checked himself. "But… uh, well I guess Numbuh 5 is… uh, pretty cool, yeah. I don't know she's pretty secretive."

With a mischievous grin, Numbuh 4 decided now was the time to rattle his friend's cage. "I think Numbuh 1 has a thing for her."

Numbuh 2 shot a startled glance at him. He had read enough spy and mystery novels to know that Numbuh 4 was trying to bait him, but he decided to go for it anyway.  
"What do you mean?"

"Well just the way he looks at her whenever she and I are training, and how he always volunteers to help her get into her body armor or grappling harnesses. Remember yesterday after she and I finished our workout and she couldn't unzip her jumpsuit? He helped unzip her down to her shorts and sports bra, I saw him taking forever to stand up again and he had his eyes glued to her the whole time. Even Numbuh 3 commented on it afterwards about how he was staring."

Numbuh 2 was feeling his blood pressure rise, but aside from clenching his fists he did his best not to betray any of his hidden feelings to Numbuh 4. "Well I imagine he's just trying to be helpful. That's how he leads."

Numbuh 2 began to think back to the missions when he and Numbuh 1 were observing the team through their cameras and he remembered, out of the corner of his eye, Numbuh 1 had most often had his focus on Numbuh 5's camera. And he remembered Numbuh 1 always looked at Numbuh 4's camera when it faced Numbuh 5 during a fight. And then when they had been driving or flying to and from a mission area Numbuh 1 had always ask questions of Numbuh 5.

Hoagie had never had any really serious girlfriends, and his few crushes had never been very successful. Mostly he didn't think much about it, but he was still a guy and naturally thought about it from time to time. He felt something for Numbuh 5 sure, but he didn't think it was love. Nothing like what Numbuh 4 obviously felt for Numbuh 3. For him it was something kind of like brother and sister love, but it still had that possibility of deeper feeling and intimacy. And imagining Numbuh 1 having feelings for Numbuh 5 gave him a bit of heartache and feeling of inferiority and inadequacy. Why wasn't he good enough? Did she like Numbuh 1 more than him?

* * *

Numbuh 5 sat on her bed reading a magazine, Numbuh 3 hadn't moved since she first lay down on her bed and started crying, and aware that she had little strength in improving people's feelings, Numbuh 5 had decided to leave her alone. 

_ARE YOU'RE CO-WORKERS ATTRACTED TO YOU?_ was the title of the article she was reading. Normally she would just skip over something cheesy like that, but for some reason she stopped to give it a quick perusal. It mentioned how a man or woman could tell if someone in their workplace was coming onto them:

1) excessive attention  
2) offers to assist, especially in any physical activity  
3) invitations to events beyond the scope of the workplace

…and so on…

Numbuh 5 thought about that and how it had applied to her before. She'd served in several cafés over her college residence and she'd done some office work with files and orders at the hospital where her dad worked, and inevitably in all those places there had been someone, either a passerby or a regular employee that had made an advance at her, inviting her to drinks, asking her to for her number or trying some pathetic pick-up line. Even one of her female co-workers had once made advances to her.  
She'd never been _harassed_ as far as she was concerned, but it had come awfully close sometimes.

And for some reason she began to think of her current predicament and her relation to her peers on the team. Numbuh 3 certainly had been very respectful of personal space as soon as she learned the boundaries, and Numbuh 4 was very honorable and had never made her feel uncomfortable or made any insinuations at being attracted to her.

But what about Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 2?

Numbuh 1 was usually quite honorable like Numbuh 4 and very respectful, but what about all those times he had been watching her train with Numbuh 4, or when she had had difficulty getting suited up, and he had jumped at the chance to help her, once even unzipping her suit and seeing her in a minimal amount of clothing. He certainly hadn't been harassing her, but he'd shown no hesitancy in getting close to her physically.

And Numbuh 2? He'd been quite talkative around her, often talking about his job in the service, cracking stupid puns and jokes to get a laugh out of her, and often failing. Was he interested in her too? Was Abby reading too much into this? He'd never been indecent around her or harassed her, but what were his feelings? For that matter what were hers?

She certainly didn't dislike any of her teammates, sure Numbuh 4 could get on her case about her combat technique and Numbuh 3's girly-girl attitude sometimes clashed with Abby's more feminist principles and views, but there had certainly never been anything that had fostered dissent.

And Abby was not in opposition to Numbuh 2 being in the military, she didn't have any world peace ideals and understood his need to pay for college and help out in his family, but she did find Numbuh 1's occupation of teaching to be more humanitarian and in some ways more respectable. And Numbuh 2's personality left some things to be desired, particularly in his humor, but he wasn't the work-a-holic, control-freak that Numbuh 1 was. She liked both of them for who they were, and had respect for them and their individual expertise, but it didn't feel like anything more than that. Nothing romantic, although that was a norm with Abby. Importance had a distinct hierarchy 1) family, 2) career, 3) friends... and relationships were way down, near the bottom of that list.

* * *

As the four teammates sat on their respective beds in their gender-specific rooms a siren went off and red lights all around the complex started flashing. Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 5 shrieked, Numbuh 2 got up with composure, unfazed by the lights and noise since he had gotten used to such things in his service training and Numbuh 4 flew off his bed and crouched in a position ready to fight. 

"DAFDTL Agents Two, Three, Four and Five report to the briefing room." Came Numbuh 1's voice over the loudspeaker.

The operatives filed into the briefing room, the adrenaline spike from the sirens was wearing off and they were settling down again. Numbuh 1 sat at the head of the table and passed out a set of folders to his teammates.

"We're going big time now you guys. Base Command said that this mission is Top-Priority and is going to need all of us at the top of our game to succeed."

Numbuh 4 had a simple reaction: "Sweet."

Numbuhs 2, 3 and 5 were a little shaken by this opening statement, but everyone was ready to be given their assignment.

"In each of your respective folders are the particulars of your part in the mission, but first, lets go over the basic tenets. Command says that the KND have a massive fortress of bunkers and ice-caves in the Arctic Circle…"

"Heh, maybe Global warming will take care of them before we do. Huh, get it, Global Warming?" cackled Numbuh 2.

Numbuh 3 was aghast: "Numbuh 2 you're right, we have to save those kids from Global Warming."

Numbuh 5 shook her head as she buried her face in her hands, "Man, you are hopeless."

"A'HEM! If I may continue… Command says that this is the KND's largest and most heavily guarded base, and we need to crack it, alone."

"All right, that's my kinda mission."

"Read over your assignment before you say anything more Numbuh 4. Now within that base is something called the Kids Next Door Code Module. It's a data storage device that contains information on all Kids Next Door Operatives past and present, as well as access codes to the Global Kids Next Door Infrastructure. Capturing this device and using it will allow Base Command to monitor Kids Next Door transmissions and intercept plans and missions specs for their whole organization. We capture that… (pointing to the picture of the Code Module on the screen)… and it's as good as putting a leash over the whole Kids Next Door Organization.  
"This mission will be highly dangerous and we expect a fight with crack troops who will do anything to stop us from getting the Code Module. Make no mistake boys and girls this mission is as serious as it gets."

"Way to rally everyone's enthusiasm boss," was Numbuh 5's sarcastic response.

"O-oh… too cool. Come on what are we waiting for, we're all here, we're all ready so let's go now, come on guys let's go, let's go, let's _go_!" Numbuh 4's eyes were wide and he was so excited he was beginning to hyperventilate.

"Stow it Numbuh 4," Numbuh 2 replied, "take a look at the fine print in the mission specs, mission is tomorrow morning at 0700 hours."

"All that build-up for nothing…" and Numbuh 4 proceeded to spew profanities under his breath.

"Right, now I think that's all you need for now team. Read over your specs thoroughly, our success may be dependent upon it. If anyone has any questions I'll be in my cell and you can ask me, or you can try to ask Base Command, but they may not be around, they usually go out to tea at two o'clock. Dismissed."

And Numbuh 1 returned to his cell. The operatives began reading through their specs, Numbuh 2 with the methodical precision of a serviceman, Numbuh 3 with the diligence of a nurse, Numbuh 4 with the excitement and unrestrained emotion of a fighter, and Numbuh 5 with the reserve and calm that was naturally in her character. As they gazed over their individual assignments Numbuhs 2 and 5 took some deep breaths as the gravity of their assignments sunk in, Numbuh 3 was a little nervous after hearing the lecture from Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 4's grin just kept growing as he read.

As it went, Numbuh 1 would land with Numbuhs 3 and 4 and provide a diversion at the main entrance. Numbuhs 1 and 3 would draw enemy fire while Numbuh 4 would work to disrupt the Kids Next Door operatives by attacking them where he found the chance. While this was going on, Numbuh 5 would proceed through one of the ventilator shafts, take down the guards around the Code Module Safe, then with Numbuh 1's directions she'd enter the access codes to unlock the Safe and retrieve the Code Module. All this time Numbuh 2 would provide air support and try to take some of the heat off the Diversion Team by drawing some of the fire to his various decoy maneuvers.

It was a well-conceived plan, but there were many risks involved. If Numbuh 2's craft were disabled, the team would be trapped. If Numbuh 5 couldn't get passed the guards, the mission would be a failure. If she couldn't access the computer, the mission would be a failure. If the Code Module were in any way damaged it would be useless and the mission, a failure. Numbuh 2 and 5 were a little overwhelmed by these chances and were starting to grow a little apprehensive since so much hung on their performance, Numbuh 4 however was still excited about the chance to really cut loose with his fighting and have a real challenge. Numbuh 3 was a little scared, since now her job wasn't just to draw attention, but fire, bullets and more.

The team's greatest mission was about to take off…

* * *

**Author's note:** Sorry to leave you hanging, but the Arctic Base chapter will be a blast, and the rest of the story is gonna get even better... I promise... and thank you all for the reviews, keep 'em coming...  



	6. Arctic Base

**ARCTIC BASE**

* * *

"First thing I'm gonna do when I get in there and have one of those terrorist punks in my sights, I'm gonna try that spinning crescent kick I practiced yesterday. Take away his weapon and knock him unconscious in one move…" 

"Oh boy, here we go." Grumbled Numbuh 5. The flight through the Arctic circle had mostly been made in silence, but now that Numbuh 4 was getting into his combat mode and getting riled up about the imminent fight there wasn't going to be any chance of respite from his rant until the fight began.

"…then when I find a whole gang of 'em in a close circle I'll jump in and do lightning wheel kicks all around. 'Like wheat under a scythe' is how my old master described it…"

"Great for you, now shut up." moaned Numbuh 2.

"…And if any of them tries to go hand-to-hand I'll give 'em a good solid joint-lock, and maybe an arm-bar and lay 'em flat…"

"NUMBUH 4!" Numbuh 1 interrupted, "If you fought with half the energy that you use to brag about what moves you'll use you could probably level that whole base single-handedly."

"Hey you really think so Numbuh 1?"

"Ugh…" went Numbuhs 2 and 5.

"I don't know why you're so excited about this Numbuh 4 – I mean these are children we're talking about," came the caring and compassionate voice of Numbuh 3, "Even if they are terrorists I think it's because they just don't know any better. Frankly I think we should be focusing on ways to reform them and prevent any other kids from going down such a destructive path, not beating them senseless for making a few wrong decisions."

"Ah, don't worry Numbuh 3. After we all get through with that Arctic Base I'll bet'cha Kids Next Door operatives all over will start handing in their resignations just so they won't have to face any of us."

_Keep dreaming…_ thought Numbuh 5.

"Come on guys am I the only one who's excited about this mission?"

_Evidently…_ thought Numbuh 2.

"Ah you're all a bunch of wet blankets, this is gonna be awesome…"

"Radar says we're coming up on something guys… looks like… a tree."

"Is it one of their giant Treehouses Numbuh 5? Like the ones we saw in the briefing?"

"No boss, it's just a little pine tree out in the middle of nowhere. But how's that possible, there ain't nothing but ice up here, how's it surviving?"

"It's our target Numbuh 5 – and it's where you're going to enter the base. Numbuh 2, get us in position over that tree so Numbuh 5 can jump out, but don't hover too long. We don't want those Kids Next Door to get wise to our plan."

"Roger that, Numbuh 1."

* * *

Numbuh 5 slipped a white hood over her head – which proved difficult with her long braid. Coupled with her white jumpsuit she would blend in perfectly with the snow and ice landscape. Numbuh 2 slowed the chopper as he flew in over the tree, he stopped to hover and switched the side door open. 

"Good luck 'Snow White'." Saluted Numbuh 3 with a giggle.

"Well thank you 'Happy'." Numbuh 5 retorted with a wink and a smile. "Just keep 'em distracted for me." And with that she jumped from the chopper to the highest pine limb. It swayed slightly after catching her, but was strong enough to hold. As soon as she caught herself on the tree limb, Numbuh 2 swerved the chopper away, heading toward what his diagrams showed to be the perimeter of the base.

"ETA 30 seconds you guys."

Numbuh 4 fastened his last glove and gave a signal of preparedness by tightening his knuckles into a fist, causing them to crack. Numbuh 3 placed her goggles around her eyes, delicately setting them in place so they were snug and comfortable, she was very apprehensive. Numbuh 1 stood by the door with the firm resolution of a general about to guide his troops into the jaws of destruction.

"Ready when you are Numbuh 2." He stated very simply.

Numbuh 2 turned the fuselage about to angle the door at one of the base's concealed entrances, dropped down fast and caused a jolt in the cabin when he stopped just short of the ground. Pressing the control button on the control panel the door slid open and Numbuh 1 hopped down to the snow, followed close on his left by Numbuh 4 and a little slower and more delicately on his right by Numbuh 3. Once the craft was empty of passengers, Numbuh 2 ascended slightly as he closed the door and brought the nose of his craft to face the wall of ice before them.

Numbuh 1 spoke into his microphone as he trudged forward. "Do it Numbuh 2," and a bright beam of light shot from a mounted cannon on Numbuh 2's helicopter, cutting the great ice sheet along its seal. The wall fractured, began to sag, and then collapsed in a cascade of snow and ice crystals. When the cloud of ice particles dissipated it revealed a great window into an enormous hangar, filled with vehicles, boxes of supplies and a horde of stunned Kids Next Door operatives, stupefied by the site they had just beheld.

One of the kids on the base floor, an obvious leader by the way he composed himself in this crisis, wasted no time in reacting: "Kids Next Door! BATTLE STATIONS!" And the fight began.

* * *

Meanwhile, Numbuh 5 was working her way down the pine tree, branch by branch, looking for anything that may suggest an opening. 

Near the tree's base she found a large knothole that did not have the appearance of being natural. She suspended herself from a higher branch with a rope and harness and descended until she was level with the knothole, then placed a hand on its unusually smooth surface. The flat surface receded into the tree and a section near the base swung open on hinges like a door, offering an opening just big enough for Numbuh 5 to squeeze through.

She dropped to the ground and wiggled her way into the tree and down into the Arctic base.

* * *

Numbuh 4 was racing around like mad, dodging the random shots from KND sharpshooters and the occasional punch or kick thrown by one of the kids on the hangar floor. He'd pulled off a few takedowns and even incapacitated the leader that spurred the rest of the base into action, but for the most part none of his enemies were looking to pick a fight hand-to-hand with an adult. And certainly not one with such speed, agility and obvious fighting expertise. 

As for the rest of his team, Numbuh 1 had had to take cover behind ammo boxes and grounded vehicles several times to avoid being hit by enemy fire, Numbuh 4 guessed that his leader probably wasn't in the best shape and couldn't keep up with the speed that he and Numbuh 3 were having to match.

Numbuh 3 was dodging fire with flawless grace and precision. One would think she was just doing an elaborate dance if not for the many streaks of laser fire and odd projectiles that flew her way and narrowly missed hitting her. If she ever occasioned to come within striking distance of any of her adversaries, she'd jump away and just keep up her dodging rather than try to disarm any of the kids.

Numbuh 2, meanwhile, had never had to react so fast in his life. The helicopter that the DAFDTL had provided him with was unspeakably fast and maneuverable, but even with it's high level of engineering and performance, Numbuh 2 was having difficulty negotiating how to dodge the shots being fired at him from the turrets around the base. He couldn't withdraw to a safe distance because he would jeopardize the team, but staying so close required him to keep a split second reaction time in order to dodge the various projectiles flying at his aircraft.

_Bet dad never had to fly anything like this_… Hoagie thought to himself and he imagined his father would be looking down on him with pride.

Though none of the team had been injured, they wouldn't be able to keep up with the speed of so many enemies for very long. They were all secretly hoping Numbuh 5 was near to fulfilling her part of the mission and that the Code Module wasn't long from being retrieved.

* * *

Numbuh 5 had meanwhile been running through the icy corridors of the base, hiding from the many operatives that raced through, heading for the central hangar where the rest of her team was holding the diversion. 

As Numbuh 5 raced through the corridors, looking for the room with the Code Module she heard what sounded like a reply come in over the intercom.

"…Affirmative Arctic Base, Global Command is sending reinforcements to assist. ETA five minutes…"

_Five minutes!_ She needed to move fast. Before that timer ran down she would need to take down the guards around the Safe, use the stolen access code that the DAFDTL Base Command had provided her with, steal the Code Module without damaging it, get back to the hangar or up the ventilation shaft in the tree, and leave Numbuh 2 with the time necessary to get her and the rest of the team clear of the base before they were overrun.

She looked up at the signs above the rooms she passed while running down the corridor. She'd just passed the _Decommissioning Office_ and she had seen the arrows pointing down the hallway, saying that she was heading towards the _Armory_.

_Well if it's in alphabetical order I should be getting pretty close_… she was hoping.

Down a new corridor: _C_.

_All right, some good news.  
Communications_…_ Commissary_…_**CODE MODULE!** BINGO!_

Numbuh 5 stopped in front of a great wooden door to catch her breath.

_A Wooden door?_

She'd expected something as important as the Code Module would be kept behind a door of titanium or heavy steel that she would have to wire explosives to, but then again these were kids she was dealing with, they used what they had, not necessarily what was most practical or intelligent.

Once she had caught her breath, she placed a small oxygen mask over her face, lifted her foot and drove it on home to the door latch. The door flew open with such force that its hinges came loose. Inside there were only two operatives, each armed with homemade rifles and pistols. Numbuh 5 pulled a small smoke grenade from her utility belt and threw it at their feet. The grenade erupted, filling the room with a blinding, choking cloud of gas that immediately knocked both her adversaries unconscious.

Numbuh 5 strode up and took a look at the safe. _What a Safe!_ It was a large cylinder with tight chains, multiple dial codes and every conceivable lock ever invented by the hand of man or kid. But she had been told that the real way into the safe was through the computer, so she set to the access code.

For the whole afternoon and night before, Numbuh 5 had been practicing this code on the computer keyboards back at the DAFDTL base. She'd gotten it down so she could enter the twenty-digit code, then bypass the dual keycard activation procedure with another code (this one a full forty digits) and enter the last six characters (Y-I-P-P-E-R) in less than a minute without a single foul-up.

After entering the last code digit, the dozens of locks on the door flew open and the seals hissed as the vacuum seal was released. The door swung open, revealing a thick plastic and metal disk about the size of a hubcap: the Code Module.

Numbuh 5 snatched the precious cargo, started to close the safe door, decided there was no time to spare, slid the goods into the special pouch in her backpack, jumped outside the doorway to the corridor and took off running toward the hangar.

* * *

Numbuh 4 was fighting with all he had in him and he was relishing every second of it. His old master, Meng Jing kuang had schooled him in some of the most destructive and devastating physical arts ever known, and Numbuh 4 had absorbed those teachings with unrivaled excellence, but even those lessons and those experiences weren't going to keep him on his feet and fighting forever. Numbuh 4 wouldn't admit it, but he was slowing down, and his enemies were as unrelenting as ever. 

_Where are you Numbuh 5?_

Suddenly his question received an unexpected answer when Numbuh 5 came racing out of one of the corridors like a white snow rabbit running out of foxhole. Numbuh 1 saw her too and reacted immediately, though he looked even more exhausted than anyone.

"There's Numbuh 5! Numbuh 2," he barked into his communicator, "we're ready, return to the hangar entrance to evacuate now."

"Roger that, Numbuh 1." Came the reply.

Numbuh 5 went running out of the hangar with Numbuh 1 while Numbuhs 3 and 4 lagged behind slightly, trying to draw the last of the enemy fire and provide an escape for their teammates. Soon enough the whole team was gathered outside the hangar under the eave of snow overhanging the base entrance, and their getaway helicopter came flying in.

Numbuh 2 set down below a distant snow bank to hide from enemy fire, much to the dismay, though general acceptance of the other four Operatives on the ground.

* * *

After the last of the team cleared the snow bank and jumped into the helicopter Numbuh 2 raised his craft off the ground, aimed away from the Arctic base and set off with all speed heading south to the cargo ship that would retrieve them. 

"Well Numbuh 5 …(pant)… did you …(pant)… did you get it?" asked Numbuh 4.

Numbuh 5 was lying down on the floor of the craft, breathing fast and heavy, stripping off her goggles, helmet and even ripping at her jumpsuit to allow some of the heat to escape her and give her heart room to beat as her lungs struggled to keep up. Though she hardly looked capable of talking, as it was a struggle for her to breathe properly, she turned away from Numbuh 4, grabbed her backpack, turned back to him and slid it across the floor.

"Have a …(pant)… look …(pant)… yourself." She managed to say through her panting.

But Numbuh 4 was too exhausted to open the backpack and see. Numbuh 3 had her back up against the wall of the fuselage and was also gasping for air. Numbuh 1 had strapped himself into the copilot's seat up front next to Numbuh 2, and he clearly had no desire to get up again unless completely necessary.

It wasn't until Numbuh 2 had landed the helicopter on the deck of the ship and received confirmation that the Kids Next Door reinforcements had flown overhead and not seen them that Numbuh 1 finally summoned up the strength to walk into the back of the chopper, pick up the white backpack and open it.

As he pulled out the Code Module and held it delicately he couldn't help but smile at their success.

"Bravo, team. Bravo."

* * *

**Author **Now things are really gonna get interesting... please review and I'll have the next chapter up soon 


	7. Mission to Cleveland

**MISSION: SECTOR V**

**Author's Note** - I hadn't originally planned for this chapter to include much romance, but it being Valentine's Day, I guess I got infected with the spirit. Hope you all enjoy it. I'm quite proud of this chapter...

* * *

Numbuhs 3 and 5 were moving back and forth on a long strip of the Training Room floor, dressed in full white fencing panoply. Numbuh 4 was simply dumbfounded: "You can't be serious guys: _fencing_?" 

The two girls halted the bout and Numbuh 5 took off her mask. "Yes Fencing, Numbuh 4," she retorted.

"I won't deny, I'm bored too, but I can't believe you guys are wasting your time with _that_. You just keep moving back and forth. I mean come on Numbuh 5, you know no real fight is so... linear."

Numbuh 3, who had insisted on trying it since she was a very proficient fencer, came to the rescue of her friend and her favorite sport: "It's not about fighting Numbuh 4, it's about anticipating and reacting to your opponent, not forcing them around. Maybe you should try it."

"Try that? You gotta be kidding..."

"Yeah well you know I think it'd help." Numbuh 5 stated. "The only kind of style you ever use in a fight is aggressive and overpowering, and fencing could easily bypass a heavy attack like yours and give you a nice little _cut_." And she demonstrated by flicking the tip of her blade at his chest, which he brushed off with annoyance. "Come on Numbuh 4, you should try practicing a bit of this, it keeps you focused on your opponent's moves. And it teaches you how to retreat from an attack." 

"The only person who should need to retreat from a fight is the one that can't handle it." Numbuh 4 brazenly declared.

"Huh," Numbuh 5 snorted. The fencing bout with Numbuh 3 hadn't satisfied her desire for fighting, so she decided to start up a duel of words with Numbuh 4. "And what if you meet an opponent like you who doesn't want to retreat? Just keeps fighting and fighting. Then what do you do?"

"Try something he's not expecting and win by surprise of course." Numbuh 4 answered.

"And what if _she_ tries that before you do and you're not ready for it? If you can't retreat and you're busy trying to find a way to get around her defense how're you going to avoid gettin' beat or slashed?"

Numbuh 4 faltered in his speech as he tried to counter that argument, but of course he couldn't deny something so logical. For a moment he considered pointing out that his opponent might not be a girl, but he realized that that was a pretty weak comeback so he didn't say it. Numbuh 3 however didn't want to see either of her friends' feelings getting hurt, so she intervened before he made a complete fool of himself.

"Come on Numbuh 4, I'll do a few bouts with you. Better you try to fight an enemy your not used to and learn that strategy now than wait for the real world and learn the hard way."

Numbuh 4 brightened upon hearing this, and it did not go unnoticed by Numbuh 5. She smiled mischievously as she walked off the strip, removing her helmet and glove. She was about the same size as Numbuh 4, so she handed them to him, then unzipped her jacket and gave him that as well, and her underarm protector. She decided not to give him her pants since he was wearing his Kung Fu pants and they would provide him with all the flexibility he'd need. As she gave him her sword, making sure to check that he was holding it properly, she whispered out of the side of her mouth so only he would hear her:

"Remember to try and retreat if you see her parrying your attack, she can move like a lightning bolt on the repost."

"Can't I just knock her foil out of the way?"

"Trust me, her blade will dodge anything you try to throw. Oh, and... be gentle with her." She gave him a mock face of pleading and a quick little wink. Numbuh 4 felt his face burning up. He tried to put his helmet on before Numbuh 3 could see his face, but Numbuh 5 stopped him.

"Well you know you can't put that on before you bow to your opponent." And she tilted her head in the direction of Numbuh 3 where she stood on the strip. Numbuh 5 chuckled and gave Numbuh 4 a reassuring pat on the shoulder as she headed for the locker room. 

Numbuh 4 walked onto the strip, gave a quick bow, trying to avoid Numbuh 3's eyes and put on his helmet before she could catch a glance of his beet-red face. She bowed much more cordially with an elegant twisting of her blade before she fitted her helmet over her head. Numbuh 4 was already sweating and he hadn't even started the fight. Were his feelings really that obvious? Did Numbuh 3 know he felt that way? Obviously she knew he liked her quite a lot, but did she know it was more than that? If Numbuh 5 could tell just by his behavior...

* * *

Numbuh 3 placed her helmet over her head and settled into her en-guarde position with her left hand held out limply behind her. She felt excited, not only getting to do something physical, but something physical with Numbuh 4 and she felt herself blush under her mask at that thought. She was a little curious about what Numbuh 5 had told him when she whispered in his ear before he entered the strip. 

_Probably tips on how to beat me. Thanks Numbuh 5..._ she thought. But a little strange, as soon as Numbuh 5 had finished talking, Numbuh 4 had started turning red and struggled to cover it up with his helmet. _...Why'd he turn so red? Is he embarrassed about something?  
_

The two started fighting, Numbuh 4 would often lunge forward with heavy steps, coming through with immense power, and then Numbuh 3 would lightly parry and repost to his chest. After she had scored five points and Numbuh 4 was starting to bash his helmet to wake himself and keep focus she began to think maybe it was hurting him to be losing so much. She tried to lighten up and move a little slower, giving him a chance to get a few points. Despite slowing considerably, Numbuh 4 was moving too heavy to get inside Numbuh 3's target zone and was further frustrated by her uncanny ability to parry his attack and repost to his chest.

After another ten minutes in which Numbuh 4 was only able to land two blows, and only because Numbuh 3 essentially let him, he started to move a little faster and started to get into the flow of retreating after making an attack and parrying an attack without forcing the blade so much. Numbuh 3 quickened her pace and eventually the two opponents went into a long bout that lasted several minutes where both kept advancing and retreating, only tapping one another's blades and no one daring to make a lunge. Numbuh 4 was the first to get aggravated by this stalemate and took the initiative to attempt a full lunge at Numbuh 3. She backed up easily, then countered, but he was just able to recover before she could land a blow as she had so many times previously.

Then when Numbuh 3 made a lunge, Numbuh 4 decided not to retreat and use his larger physical frame to stop her advance. A simple and effective move for some other style of fighting, but not akin to the finesse of fencing. The result was the crossing of blades, the tangling of feet, and both fencers falling over, Numbuh 3 landing on top of Numbuh 4. Both were relieved that none of their other teammates had been watching as they figured it must've looked pretty ridiculous.

They both started laughing, and Numbuh 4 slid off his mask to signal a temporary end to the bout. Numbuh 3 followed step. Her long hair cascaded out from her helmet like a waterfall and fell around her shoulders. Numbuh 4 found it very seductive.

"Um... sorry." She said through her giggling.

"No it was... it was my fault." He was still chuckling, but tripping over his words as he tried to speak. "I thought I could get away without, uh... without retreating and... and uh..."

Numbuh 4 stopped there as the nature of his physical juxtaposition had made itself fully apparent to him. He and Numbuh 3 were both winded from the intensity of the bout and dripping with sweat. He gazed into her eyes and felt her deep, steady breathing on his face, and the hard breastplate she wore as it pressed into his chest. Her innocent, girlish smile started to disappear, and the more serious and mature expresson of a young woman took its place as she lowered her face to the point where their noses almost touched. Their breathing quickened ever so slightly as they both sensed each other's proximity, but for a few moments neither dared even budge.

Numbuh 4 knew that it would be more difficult for him to move first since he'd have to curl his neck forward and wouldn't be able to hold for very long, but he did it anyway; drawing in air through his nose rather noisely as he locked lips with his opponent and slid his ungloved left hand up her arm and around her back. Rather than retreat or hold steady where she was, Numbuh 3 slid her ungloved hand around Numbuh 4's head and slowly lowered him to the floor as she returned and deepened the kiss. She slid one leg over his body and straddled his midsection as she brought her now empty glove hand around the other side of his head and held him tight to her face as she drew the sweet pleasure from his lips. He countered by sliding his other arm around her back and held her with gentle firmness.

Any misgivings that Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 4 had had about the idea of being something more than friends diminished right there on the practice floor. While he held her back and shoulders she gingerly craddled his head and neck, and both kept their eyes shut and relaxed.

It was amazing really... two people who'd only known each other a couple of months and had exchanged very little talk with one another, now held each other as lovers. Romeo and Juliet couldn't have given a more convincing spectacle of young love.

Neither of the them wanted that moment of near heavenly bliss to end, but regrettably, Numbuh 1 had some other plans for the day and his voice on the intercom brought the romantic interlude to a screeching halt. 

"Attention DAFDTL Operatives 2, 3, 4 and 5, report to the briefing room, new mission specs have just come in from Base Command."

* * *

After the team had entered and settled into their seats, Numbuh 4, who was a little annoyed at the timing of the meeting and what it had interrupted, took the liberty of asking Numbuh 1 a very impertinent question, "So, where have our oh-so-wise directors decided to send us now?" 

"Probably back to school and studies if you don't watch the attitude Numbuh 4." Numbuh 1 warned him. "We have a mid/high-level assignment today crew. We're headed to Cleveland to take care of a Kids Next Door stronghold that's been harassing the community for months now. Base Command says it's something of a personal score to be settled."

"A Kids Next Door stronghold in Cleveland?" Numbuh 3 was shocked.

"Indeed Numbuh 3. And it's equipped with some of the most high tech weapons and defense systems in the whole Kids Next Door arsenal. Not to mention it's manned by five of the organization's top operatives. It'll be our biggest mission since the Arctic Base, but it shouldn't be as delicate, we're not supposed to retrieve anything vital on this mission…"

Most everyone let out a sigh of relief. Numbuh 2 because he wouldn't have to be so careful with his equipment, Numbuh 3 since she wouldn't have to keep up such a long distraction and Numbuh 5 since she wouldn't have so much responsibility weighing on her shoulders. The only one who looked disappointed was Numbuh 4.

"Man, they spoiled us with that mission for the Code Module. How do they expect us to have any fun if we don't get anything at least as important as the Arctic Base mission? Ever since we stole that Code Module everything just turned dull, boring, low level and all the rest of it. We haven't had a good challenge for weeks now."

"Be careful what you wish for Numbuh 4, sometimes you get more of it than you can handle." Numbuh 2 cautioned.

"And in either case we aren't doing this mission for the fun of it Numbuh 4, we're doing it so we can protect the children of Cleveland from the influences and pressures of those Kids Next Door and their whole oppressive organization. I think that that's more important than our enjoyment in the mission. Anyway the job is simple… neutralize the defenses, disarm the enemy operatives, and then give the go ahead to some other DAFDTL agents to cut down the Treehouse and airlift it away."

"Do any of us have _special_ mission specifications for this one?" asked Numbuh 5.

"Well the basic parameters are as I just stated Numbuh 5. Naturally we'll all be in our regular designations: Numbuh 4 will be in charge of leading the fight, Numbuh 3 will be responsible for distracting the operatives and defenses, and you will be responsible for lending aid to Numbuh 4 and hacking into their computer system and disabling the Treehouse's defenses. And so for that you have a few codes to remember… Base Command found them on the Code Module."

And Numbuh 1 slid a folder across the table and into Numbuh 5's hands.

"You should be able to commit all of those to memory on the flight there... oh and as usual, Numbuh 2 and I will direct you from the surveillance van, and in the event of something unexpected or disastrous, we'll provide direct aid."

"Sounds pretty straightforward," replied Numbuh 3. Everyone was surprised that their most peaceable, conflict avoiding operative was OK with the mission. After several weeks it seemed the responsibility had begun to grow on her.

"Well then, everyone get suited up and I'll see you on the runway in about, uh… half an hour." Numbuh 1 concluded.

"Hey one more thing," Numbuh 2 asked. "Did Base Command mention why we're going after this base in particular? I mean on all our other missions it was either to get us into the mode of working as a team or to isolate a really big threat or gather information, why are they sending us to take care of just five kids in Cleveland?"

"Like I said Numbuh 2, they told me it's a score to be settled."

"Huh, and the higher-up fat cats are making it _our_ problem. Typical." Numbuh 5 muttered under her breath, but she smiled a bit. She was excited to be the only one trusted with a special assignment.

* * *

Numbuh 1 took his leave and entered his room while the others each went their separate ways to prepare for the mission. His room was significantly different from the others, 'the benefits and responsibilities of a leader' was how he viewed it. The room had a single bed in one corner, with a small nightstand and a desk beside it with a simple halogen lamp and a laptop. It looked an awful lot like his freshman dorm room, but it was just the corner and comprised only about a quarter of his overall room. 

The walls all around his room flickered with the images from security footage of the base and the airport above, as well as surveillance images of DAFDTL satellites spying on Kids Next Door bases and activities from space all over the world.

Most of the rest of the domicile was taken up by a wooden table, covered with photos of Kids Next Door operatives and facilities, and strewn with documents about Kids Next Door procedures and identities of operatives all over the world. These last documents had mostly come in the last few days since Base Command had locked up the Code Module and only provided him with information as he necessitated it.

Numbuh 1 and the rest of his team had no direct access to the Code Module. He wasn't sure, but it seemed Base Command was as keen as keeping him and his team from accessing the device as they were about keeping the Kids Next Door from seizing it back. And why that was he could not discern, despite his uncanny ability to see things from other people's point of view. But he took it to mean that the secrets on the Code Module were too important to be so freely available... _especially to part-time operatives_. He reminded himself, _We're just here until March_.

Nigel sat down at his great table of documents and looked up at the flickering walls, watching planes landing on the runway above, the Kids Next Door operatives laying low and not making much of a stir in their Treehouses. He unconsciously found his gaze going back to the Training Room video feed. He'd made no mention of it, but he'd seen Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 4 in their little tryst and the passionate embrace in which the two lovers had locked themselves. He actually hadn't planned on having the team meeting for another ten minutes, but the fierceness of their cuddling and kissing had prompted him to stop them before it went any further. Afterall they were shortly about to go on a mission.

_Still, that's probably going to need some addessing later._ He thought.

...then something else caught his eye.

Numbuh 5 was walking down the residence corridor, shoulder to shoulder with Numbuh 2. Not for the first time Nigel found it difficult to take his eyes of Numbuh 5 and focus on his duties and responsibilities.

He'd been feeling strange being in Numbuh 5's presence these past several weeks. He thought of her as being very physically attractive, a little shrewd at times, but overall pleasing company. Strange but he often found himself looking for ways to help her or talk with her, or even just be close to her. And in so doing he had also noticed that Numbuh 2 was quick to call his attention back to his duties and away from her.

_Does he like her and want me to back off? For that matter do I like Numbuh 5 in that way?_

Nigel was not a particularly apt man in the ways of women and romance. He had had one rather serious relationship while in middle school with a rather controlling girlfriend named Lizzie. Most people found her rather annoying, but he had enjoyed her company and her steadfast commitment to him, despite the fact that she was often a little overbearing in nature (one of the few things they shared in common). He had respected Lizzie, mostly because she was the one person that could really bring out his soft-side, and at times her overbearing nature made her something of a 'worthy-adversary', and this had made the relationship stable as far as it's longevity, but not particularly strong or close for the majority of the time.

Nigel hadn't had any serious relationship since then, he had always been on the lookout for a girl that was able to in someways, control him as Lizzie had. Not that he liked to be controlled, but he was so used to being _in_ control of others and overseeing the doings of others he kind of liked having someone to take care of him.

_Is that why I like Numbuh 5? Cause she reminds me of Lizzie? Cause I think of her as being a kind of 'worthy adversary'?_

Though Nigel couldn't make much sense of his own feelings, he knew he was feeling something as he watched Numbuh 5 walk side-by-side with Numbuh 2. Was it envy?

_Grrr… Why am I wasting my time thinking about these things? He snapped at himself. We're in the middle of a war with terrorist children and I'm bothering away my time with thoughts and feelings about romance and inter-team relationships? Come on Nigel, GET A GRIP MAN!_

He turned away from the monitor and proceeded to gather his equipment for the mission to the Cleveland Treehouse. _Sector V_ was what he had read in the printout from Base Command. Strange but it sounded very familiar.

_Sector V: Where have I heard that before…_ he pondered.

* * *

Hoagie had parted from Numbuh 5 at her room and gone to the hangar and started packing weapons, tools and a plethora of surveillance and communication technology that he was sure would be needed for this mission. 

He'd failed in his attempt to evoke a laugh out of her at one of his jokes, but nonetheless he'd enjoyed their short sojourn. It made him feel …close.

_I wonder what the guys back home would think if they could see me now?_

Indeed, two months ago he had been the mild-mannered Hoagie Gilligan, an ROTC student serving in the Air Force, working his way through school and trying for a degree in Criminal Justice. He'd been into Private Eye novels, chilidogs and even old Erector sets from the local hobby shop. And though he still enjoyed all those things it was hard to picture the two different lives being lived by the same person.

_But this life here feels so right… why's that? _He wondered._

* * *

_

Kuki was now in the room she shared with Numbuh 5 and had begun to suit up in her black and green combat suit.

She had intended to suit up in the locker room that was just off of the Weapons Storage Locker since most of the gear she used was stored there. But Numbuh 4 had gotten there first and started to strip out of his street clothes and into his combat suit.

She had walked in on him after he had taken off his shirt and jeans. He had changed into an athletic supporter before she opened the door, so his privacy hadn't been _completely _compromised, but it had nonetheless been a rather awkward moment for both of them. She had entered without knocking, and when she saw him, pale, muscular and half naked, she'd lost hold of her conscious self and just stood staring at him for a good space of time. He too had frozen upon seeing her enter and had failed to react for some time as well.

Then, after what seemed ages of shocked and embarrassed staring, Kuki blinked her eyes, turned and left.

When she got back to her own room her heart was pounding in her throat and she felt as though her lungs were sliding down into her abdominal cavity. Over the past couple of weeks she had toyed with her own little fantasies of seeing Numbuh 4 in such a revealing state, and after what the two of them had just done in the training room, that fantasy had grown more perceptible than ever. But her walking in and seeing him had been so unexpected, and though it would have been a bit awkward regardless of the original pretext, she wished she had done something other than freeze, stare and then leave without a word. What she would've said she wasn't sure:

_But better to say at least something than just walk away as though he weren't worth even apologizing too._ She condemned herself.

The truth was Kuki didn't feel sorry at all for seeing him, she had enjoyed it, but still she wished she had said she was sorry, if only for the social convention of being polite. She wanted to go grab her Rainbow Monkey from under her pillow and cuddle with it for a few minutes, but at that moment, Numbuh 5 entered the room and she decided to finish suiting up and try to forget about what happened.

But she knew she couldn't.

* * *

After having had Numbuh 3 walk in on him and then turn around and leave without a word, Wally felt many things. Embarrassed by his state of appearance before her, incensed by her silence and in some ways hurt by it as well. But then what had he expected her to say or do? 

_Oh Numbuh 4! You're so hot, I want you so badly…  
_"Get real moron." He vocally berated himself for his somewhat perverse thoughts.

_But why was it that awkward?  
...__Because it was more than just any girl walking in on any guy. It was Numbuh 3 walking in on me.  
Yeah so? Why does that make any difference?  
...What were the two of us doing just before the briefing?  
_

Though Wally still felt there was plenty more to be examined as far as what had happened in that situation he let his internal argument slide as he continued to dress himself. He knew he had a lot of responsibility to his teammates. Despite his subordinate role in the team's hierarchy he was technically responsible for their overall protection. Any fight for one of his teammates was a fight for him as well and he would have to help and protect them all, regardless of the risk to himself.

_Come on there mate you're not just a lazy college student anymore. You're Numbuh 4, and you're a "combat leader" now boyo, keep your head in the game or it might leave without you. And in a fight like this it might do that in more ways than one._

Wally finished strapping on his black, orange-striped body armor, took his black, orange striped gloves in his hands without putting them on, and proceeded to the hangar; a little nervous about how he was going to deal with sitting next to Numbuh 3 on the flight. He expected a great deal of awkwardness lay ahead.

* * *

When Abby had gone back to her room, Numbuh 2 had proceeded to walk alongside her. Nothing unusual about that since their rooms were in the same corridor and the corridor led straight to the hangar anyway, but she couldn't help but remind herself of that reflection she had made of herself and her teammates all those weeks ago. And the fact that she had left her feelings for Numbuh 2 somewhat open-ended came to the forefront of her thoughts. 

As Numbuh 2 had walked with her he had made a clear effort to elicit many things. For one he'd tried to get a rise out of her when he cracked a joke about Cleveland and how he planned 'cleave' the 'land' beneath the Kids Next Door Treehouse. A pretty stupid pun that was typical of Numbuh 2.

As they walked, Numbuh 2 somewhat deviated from his straight course and rubbed his shoulder up against hers. Besides her very powerful 'woman's intuition', Abby knew it was an intentional advance by the fact that Numbuh 2 was a military serviceman and was naturally able to walk a perfect line, due to his training. He would've only bumped into her (or more to the point, massaged her shoulder with his own) if it had been intentional.

At first Abby didn't know how to react. Normally if it were any of the many guys that hit on her at school she would've side-stepped a little to create a wider space between her and them so they would know she didn't want to be touched. But instead she sensed herself taking a step in the opposite direction, towards him! And before she really knew what she was doing, she gave a little push back. It was very subtle and whether or not he took it to heart she was unaware. Regardless, she took it to mean that as far as she was concerned, this man didn't put her off and she wasn't afraid to flirt a little.

When she parted from Numbuh 2 and went to her room she opened the door and found Numbuh 3 was staring at the wall blankly as she was dressing into her uniform; her characteristic smile replaced by a look of melancholy and seeming regret. Abby knew instantly that her friend was having something of a dilemma and though she felt something of an almost sisterly attachment to Numbuh 3 and wanted to comfort her, she decided to just go about preparing herself for the mission and wait for Numbuh 3 to speak.

But she didn't.

* * *

As the sun slowly rose, and began creeping past the skyscrapers, casting its rays on the runway, the DAFDTL Commanders themselves emerged as one, five-bodied individual out on the airstrip to bid goodbye to the team as they set off on their flight to Cleveland. It was one of the few times that Numbuhs 1 through 5 had seen the DAFDTL Commanders since they first arrived two months ago, and this was the first time the DAFDTL had ever come out of the base to bid the team goodbye, good luck or good anything. 

"As Numbuh 1 made clear in your briefing, this mission is of great importance to us as something of a score to be settled. Rest assured these terrorists, though few in number are crack operatives and will require your expertise to neutralize."

"Ha, now you're talking," was Numbuh 4's reply.

"Well then, Numbuh 1… good hunting."

Numbuh 1 out of the desire to appear cordial gave a small salute to his superiors before they turned and left the runway. Though he didn't have any qualms about having them as his superiors, sometimes Nigel felt that there was something odd about them. Almost something evil and twisted. I mean how do five people (who don't look anything alike) move with such synchronized coordination. They certainly weren't quintuplets, a couple of them looked to be at least a few years older than a couple others.

Numbuh 1 pushed it from his mind and put his focus on his team and the mission on which they were about to embark. His teammates had loaded their equipment into their prime vehicle (the helicopter) and strapped themselves in for takeoff. Numbuh 1 came up to the hatch door, looked in at his team and all that had been loaded to make sure that they hadn't forgotten anything.  
Satisfied that all was as it should be he gave a curt nod to Numbuhs 4 and 5 who were seated closest to the door.

Numbuh 1 then hopped into the copilot's seat next to Numbuh 2 and strapped himself in.

"Everyone ready then?"

"Ready," came Numbuh 3's cheerful voice as she tightened the straps to her combat suit.

"Let's do it." Numbuh 4 replied as he slipped a glove over his right hand and cracked his knuckles in a tight fist.

"Rock n' Roll boss," Numbuh 5 answered as she adjusted her utility harness and slipped a mask around her neck.

"Right then. Numbuh 2, get us airborne."

"Sure thing chief."

* * *

The DAFDTL looked on from the safety of the hangar as Numbuhs 1 through 5 rose in their helicopter, turned westward toward Cleveland and set off with remarkable speed for which the helicopter was so well renowned. 

"It's all going according to plan." They sniggered in their collective voice. "The legendary and infamous Numbuhs 1 through 5 of Sector V, decommissioned and unaware of their past, now on a mission to destroy their own Treehouse. It's almost too perfect for words."

And as the helicopter faded from sight, the quintet struck up a most sinister, and hauntingly inhuman laugh.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Buckle up and hold tight boys and girls, next chapter is the battle at Sector V... (_pardon the cheesy sales pitch_)  
...please send in reviews, even just a couple brightens my whole day... 


	8. Sector V, I presume

**NUMBUH 4 vs. NUMBUH 4**

After landing at the airport in Cleveland, the team had unloaded their equipment into a custom-built van belonging to the DAFDTL and provided specifically for this mission. It wasn't the sleekest looking car ever, being regular white without any markings, and certainly wasn't going to draw much attention (which in this case was a good thing).

As soon as they were in the van Numbuh 2 made a note about how non-aerodynamic it was and how likely it was to roll over on a sharp turn or be incapable of picking up speed in case of a fast getaway.  
Numbuh 3 noted how lacking in foresight the car's outfitters had been since there were only two small First Aid Kits that didn't have the tools she'd need if it came to a paramedic level emergency. Numbuh 4 complained that it was very sparse as far as the weaponry it was packing, only a couple suspension and grapple guns and some long-range rifles with rubber bullets. Numbuh 5 also made a complaint that it wasn't all that inconspicuous and how a little more dirt on the sides or even a less flashy color like dark blue would probably help them blend in.

"Would you all just give it a rest," Numbuh 1 complained. "It's a van, it's got four wheels and an engine and can get us from point A to point B, and we have all the basics we'll need for a mission of this little danger. It's not lacking in what we need, _provided_ that we don't exceed our parameters," here he glared at everyone in the back, but focused mainly on Numbuh 4. "Now will everyone focus on the task at hand and stop complaining!"

"Ok, just pointing out a few things we might consider telling the higher-ups to change if they want this mission or any others to go better." Numbuh 5 retorted.

While Numbuh 1 sat grumbling at his team's obstinacy, Numbuh 2 put the vehicle in drive and proceeded off the airport runway and headed for the suburbs. While en route several of them noticed the familiarity of their surroundings, and Numbuh 3 was the first to point it out.

"Hey my old neighborhood isn't far from here."

"Yeah, and those train tracks we just went over, they're the same ones that go right by my house." Numbuh 4 pointed out.

"Hey when we're done with the mission how 'bout we all stop and visit my house. It ain't far from here either." Said Numbuh 5.

Numbuhs 1, 3 and 4 looked at her, stunned.

"You live here too?" Numbuh 3 hadn't talked to Numbuh 5 about where she'd come from, so this was news to both of them.

"Hey Numbuh 1 why do you look so surprised?" asked Numbuh 4. "Wait a minute. …Did you live near here too?"

"Well… yeah, just a few blocks from here."

"Hold up there, I think we need to figure something out," Numbuh 5 declared as Numbuh 2 stopped in front of a stop sign at a four-way intersection. "Ok, anybody who grew up… actually on second thought, anybody who _didn't_ grow up here or at least near here, make it known to the rest of us."

And no one answered.

"Whoa, we all lived in the same neighborhood?" Numbuh 3 was amazed.

"Uh, not that I don't find that amazing as well guys, but I think we're coming up on the target." Numbuh 2 pointed out. And indeed the Treehouse was dead ahead, nearly impossible to miss – it stood above the suburban houses like a colossal monument of wood and various bits and pieces of massive machinery among its many branches and leaves.

"And how come no one's ever noticed that before?" Numbuh 5 couldn't understand how anyone could miss or seen and not gotten at least a little suspicious of why something so massive and somewhat imposing stood in a suburban neighborhood.

"Right, everyone we'll be there in a few minutes, you know the plan of entry, get your ascension rifles ready. I want to park, attack and seize that base and be done with this thing before noontime. This whole operation is already wigging me out."

"True to that," Numbuh 5 agreed.

* * *

They misjudged the distance to the Treehouse, and it ended up taking an extra five minutes to get there. Five minutes feels like an exceptionally long time when you're sitting in an unmarked van, holding heavy assault equipment and traveling to a terrorist outpost in the suburban neighborhood of a fairly large city. True the team had seen some more dangerous operations, but being in these seemingly peaceful surroundings reminded them that there were innocent lives at stake in this mission, and any collateral damage could involve the mutilation or death of many, unsuspecting people. 

As Numbuh 2 brought the van down a side street, the Treehouse loomed over their heads, obscuring the sun and the sky. It was so massive it was a wonder that the house it stood on could hold it upright. The house below looked much like the others in the neighborhood, but the tree didn't look natural to be on that piece of property, it just looked unnatural.

"It's funny," Numbuh 1 broke the silence as they drew closer to the house and property plot where the tree stood. "That tree almost looks like it would belong on top of my house."

Numbuh 2 cocked an eyebrow when he heard that.

"Numbuh 1 what are you talking about?"

Nigel found his thoughts going to his old house, which actually wasn't very far from here. He remembered his nice, comfortable little treehouse being situated on a massive stump atop his house. He'd always wondered about the tree that must've stood there, and he imagined it must've been enormous, since the trunk was huge. But Nigel couldn't remember having ever seen it.  
His parents told him that there used to be a great big tree up there, one that he and his friends hung out in all the time. Then one day someone informed the Uno family that the tree was violating some architectural code for the suburbs and would have to be cut down and moved to another house in the suburbs. Nigel couldn't remember that either, but his father had assured him that the paper said to always trust the contractors: his dad put an awful lot of trust in that paper.

Nigel snapped back to the present as a hand waved in front of his face. "Uh… nothing, nothing guys. This is far enough Numbuh 2."

And Numbuh 2 stopped the van across the street from the house.

"All right then team, ready your grapples and fire the moment the door is open. Oh wait, communicators!"

Each of them double-checked the earphones on the side of the face, slipped a black mask over their faces and gave Numbuh 1 the thumbs-up. Numbuhs 3, 4 and 5 squatted down in the cargo space and aimed their massive projectile cannons at the car door and upwards at the Treehouse. Numbuh 2's finger hovered over the automatic side-door opening button, waiting for Numbuh 1 to give the order.

"Open Numbuh 2."

The button clicked as it pressed down, the door flew open so fast one would think it might just fly off the car altogether, and three projectile hooks flew forth from the opening, trailing climbing ropes behind them like streamers. The hooks pierced a set of planks on a platform about halfway up the tree, right on what appeared to be the main balcony.

Numbuhs 3, 4 and 5 hooked the ropes to anchors in the van floor and attached their harnesses to the ropes, while fitting special grips around the ropes. Pressing buttons on their harnesses the three operatives literally flew out of the van heading up to the Treehouse fortress, pulled by the motors in the harnesses. Numbuh 2 unfolded the mission observation database on the dashboard and switched on the links to everyone's communicators while Numbuh 1 watched his three warriors fly forth.

* * *

The Treehouse's defense systems fired some small objects at the team as they flew up the lines, but mostly inane objects like pillows. Numbuh 5 could swear she saw a cannon firing little clams at her as she neared the observation deck. 

Numbuhs 3 and 5 were able to hop up on the balcony with perfect grace and poise, Numbuh 4 on the other hand, struggled a little to disengage his harness and hop up on the deck. When they were all together, sirens started sounding and several kids came running out of the doors and hallways inside the Treehouse, carrying makeshift weapons. There were only four kids, and at first Numbuh 5 was wondering if perhaps one of the kids (since there should've been five) was hiding somewhere in the nooks and crannies, just waiting for her and the team to make the first move and then be able to stun them from the rear.

Numbuh 4 didn't hesitate for second, but went flying right into the thick of it, grabbing detonators from his harness and throwing them in all directions. When they burst, the room was flooded with smoke and the Kids Next Door fell back.

While Numbuh 4 went running down one of the corridors, chasing a couple of kids, Numbuh 3 ran down a corridor near the other operatives and induced them to chase her. That left Numbuh 5 all alone in the main room, with several computer terminals for her to hack into. She hopped into one of the chairs and started putting in access codes, dropping shields, deactivating alarms and bypassing security to safe points. As she was typing away she sensed something moving through the air, and she ducked just as a 12-year-old boy flew over her head and landed his heel in the computer monitor.

Numbuh 5 hopped backwards and got in a ready position as she squared off against her antagonist.

Strangely he looked very familiar. Less than average height for his age, blonde bowl-cut hair, a somewhat flat nose, and small ears. Plus he was wearing an orange hoodie and baggy jeans. Almost like Numbuh 4 miniaturized.

"Whoever you are _adult_, you made one big mistake picking a fight with Sector V. Run outta here now and maybe my friends and I will let you go with only a small amount of butt kicking."

_Was that an Australian accent he was using?_ Numbuh 5 thought to herself. _Man, it's not enough that he looks like Numbuh 4, he even sounds like him too._

"We came here to stop you Kids Next Door from terrorizing Cleveland, and we ain't leaving until you're in custody and this Treehouse is sawdust."

The little quasi-Numbuh 4 attacked her then. As if there weren't enough things already disconcerting about the situation, the kid was actually _fighting_ a lot like Numbuh 4. And he was actually holding his own pretty well against her.

_Yeesh, is that why the DAFDTL are so keen on seizing this place? Is it a cloning facility or something?

* * *

_

As Numbuh 5 continued sparring with her pint-sized adversary she heard crashes and explosions and many shouts growing louder and louder. When she and her opponent separated, she stole a peek at the doors and hallways leading into the room and saw two kids running in, followed closely by Numbuh 4, and then Numbuh 3 running in with the other two operatives chasing her.

Numbuh 4's adversaries were bruised and using smaller weapons, since he'd evidently broken their primary weapons. Numbuh 3's opponents were clearly winded from chasing her, but at least she hadn't been beating them.

Numbuh 4 shouted encouragements to the team:

"Come on guys we got 'em on the ropes."

Thinking it was one of his own operatives who spoke (specifically the one who was fighting Numbuh 5), the base leader (who had been chasing Numbuh 3) shouted to the blonde kid who was fighting Numbuh 5.

"I'm sorry that I don't share your enthusiasm Numbuh 4."

Numbuh 3 stopped her running and cart wheeling, and Numbuh 5 stopped her fight with the boy who the other Kids Next Door had just called Numbuh 4.

The blonde boy known as Numbuh 4 had stopped as well and was staring with some confusion and fear at the adult who had been fighting hand-to-hand with his friends. He'd stopped when her heard the adult shouting in a remarkably familiar voice. Numbuh 4/Wally was staring back at the short twelve-year-old boy with a mixture of fear and incredulity.

For a few moments, everyone was frozen. Even Numbuhs 1 and 2, watching from the van saw the pause and couldn't comprehend everyone's sudden immobilization.

* * *

Then Wally, praying that his young adversary hadn't seen through the mask or guessed who he was by his voice, turned and bolted for the balcony, shouting into his communicator as he ran: 

"We have to leave, now!"

"Numbuh 4, what's the situation?" Numbuh 1 replied.

"The situation is I have to leave, _we_ have to leave. Abort. Retreat. Fall back. Whateva', but we have to get out of here right now!"

"All right Numbuh 4 calm down, tell me what's gone wrong and we'll fix it and finish the mission."

Now Wally was going as fast as his legs could carry him, and he was in no mood to salvage the debacle. He only wanted to get out of that Treehouse and away from the face he had seen, and in his desperation he vented his frustration on his adamant leader.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME! THE MISSION IS _OVER_! WE HAVE TO PULL OUT _NOW_!"

There was a moment's hesitation as if Numbuh 1 were weighing his authority with that of Numbuh 4 and finding it difficult deciding who should be the one to make that call, but he replied in due course: "All right Numbuh 4, acknowledged. Guys pull out, I'm calling an abort, get out of there. And Numbuh 4, you'd better have a good explanation for this once we get clear of their defenses."

* * *

Numbuhs 3 and 5 abandoned their stations and ran for the balcony with Wally. The Kids Next Door just stood there in amazement and didn't bother to retaliate. 

As one group, Numbuhs 3, 4 and 5 jumped from the precipice with outstretched arms as though they were skydiving. Instantly their hands went to small handles on their vests and gave a mighty tug.

Three black sheets billowed into the air, slowing the falling squadron and allowing them a less sudden and painful impact with the earth. As soon as they had landed Numbuhs 5 cut her chute away without a moment's hesitancy and Numbuh 3 did the same, with a little less haste. Numbuh 4 on the other hand had been moving so frantically, wanting to get on the ground and away from that sight that he had gotten tangled in the lines of his chute as he dropped and had hit the ground rather forcefully. He was now a mass of tangled ropes and fabric, tossing and twisting frantically like a child.

Numbuh 5 raced to the struggling figure, drew the combat knife on her utility belt and cut through the fabric to Numbuh 4. After pulling him to his feet and unclipping his parachute she noticed that the Sector V Kids Next Door were repelling from the Treehouse with ropes and harnesses, and coming down with astonishing speed.

"Move guys, move." Numbuh 1 was growing impatient.

But Numbuh 4 had his attention fixed on the blond-haired, KND Operative Numbuh 4 as he repelled down the side of the massive tree. He was so stunned and transfixed that both Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 5 had to grab his hands and drag him towards the van.

The team piled in without care for finesse or grace, cut away the ascension ropes and before they could even close the sliding door, Numbuh 2 had slammed down the accelerator and taken off down the road. He gazed into the rearview mirror after a couple of minutes and let out a long sigh. A clear signal to the rest of the team that they had escaped…

* * *

"Numbuh 4 you'd better have a good reason for…" then Numbuh 1 stopped when he saw that Numbuh 4 was lying prone on his back on the van floor, breathing very shallow and rapidly with his hand over his eyes. "Numbuh 4? What's wrong? Are you hurt? Numbuh 3, what's wrong with him?" 

Numbuh 4 tried to speak but was hyperventilating too much to get out what he meant to say: "You guys… that… kid… Numbuh… 4…"

Numbuh 3 grew concerned that Numbuh 4 would either pass out or go into shock, and so she did what her knowledge as a nurse dictated. She put a box of supplies under his feet to keep them elevated, then sat with one hand stroking his stomach to try and relax him, while she kept the other hand on the side of his face, stroking his cheek gently to let him know that she was there for him.

"Relax Numbuh 4," she spoke as she soothed and cuddled him, "just breathe. We're away from the Treehouse, just take a deep breath and relax. You can tell us what happened when you're relaxed. Just breathe Numbuh 4. Just breathe."

Numbuh 4 did as he was told, and breath-by-breath he slowed until he was relaxed enough to speak.

"I'm all right… (deep breath)… I'm fine guys (breath)…"

"Numbuh 4 what happened in there? Did they use some kind of weapon on you or did you see some kind of massive doomsday weapon or horrible experiment?"

"No Numbuh 1… it wasn't that… one of those kids… the Kids Next Door Operative… called Numbuh 4… their fighter… that was…"

Numbuh 4 shut his eyes and covered them with his hand, still trying to convince himself that they had deceived him.

"Who, Numbuh 4? That was who?"

"...Joey… it was my little brother."

Everyone was shocked. Numbuh 5 was the first to recover from it since it disproved her original fear that they were attacking a cloning facility.

"Whoa champ… sure you ain't imagining things? I mean we've all been away from our families for a while now, maybe you were just…"

"It was Joey, I wasn't hallucinating, I'd know my little brother anywhere. I'm telling you it was him. And those other kids were calling him Numbuh 4. Guys I know it was Joey, I'm not making this up." He implored them to see eye to eye with him and believe what he was saying.

Numbuh 1 gave an exasperated sigh. "All right Numbuh 4, we believe you."

"Well what do we do now?" asked Numbuh 2. "Even if we wanted to, we can't go back and try to take the base now, they're ready for us. And Base Command will be furious as soon as they find out we voluntarily aborted our mission."

"They don't know I agreed to abort the mission Numbuh 2… in case you didn't notice, I _accidentally_ turned off the automatic mission log while Numbuh 4 was berating us to fall back."

"Ok Numbuh 1, but what _do_ we do now?" asked Numbuh 3.

And the team leader stroked his chin with his index finger as he pondered their next move.

* * *

After a few more minutes, Numbuh 2 was satisfied that they were sufficiently clear of the Sector V Treehouse and stopped the van in front of a candy shop in the downtown section. Numbuh 1 stopped stroking his chin and divulged his answer: 

"Numbuh 4, are you well enough that you could walk?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good, cause I've got a plan. I want to know just who and what the Kids Next Door are, and I'd like to hear it from one of its own Operatives. Go back to the Treehouse unarmed and in regular clothes and interrogate your little brother, I don't think he saw your face, and I expect he'll be happy to see you. I want you to find out all you can about the organization and what they're really about. Find out anything and everything you can about the Kids Next Door and the DAFDTL."

"OK, sure."

"…The rest of us will return to base and report you as MIA, that should give you enough time to get all the information you can from your brother, as much as he'll be willing to tell you I expect. Then myself, Numbuh 2 and Numbuh 3 will return to 'rescue' you. So I suggest you try to make yourself appear as though you were captured and barely managed to escape, have your brother and his team rough you up a bit if necessary. Numbuh 5, while we're gone you need to hack into the Code Module and figure out anything and everything you can about the Kids Next Door, the DAFDTL and if possible, how we tie into it all."

"Whoa there boss; the Code Module? The DAFDTL aren't keeping it any less secure than the Kids Next Door, and you saw how close a scrape that was. Now you expect me to retrieve it again, all by myself, escape the alarms and booby-traps and…"

"No Numbuh 5. I want you to access it from where it is in the vault and download all the info I just asked you to find. And I mean _all_ of it."

"What about security?"

"The organization said that they'd disavow any one of us if we were captured, but if they see the whole team going out to retrieve one of us I think they'll be more inclined to keep their eyes on everything we're doing. Our departure and the whole premise for our fake 'mission' should keep them distracted and give you the opportunity to do this with at least a little less risk."

"Not that this plan isn't brilliant beyond belief Numbuh 1, but what exactly are we hoping to accomplish by doing all this?" inquired Numbuh 2.

"I don't know about you Numbuh 2, but the fact that we were supposedly drawn from a pool of _hundreds of thousands _of college students, yet are somehow all from the same neighborhood and have a remarkable aptitude for teamwork and comfort in this line of work is a little too much of a coincidence for my taste. And now I'm supposed to believe that one of my own teammate's little brother is in this 'enemy' organization? I intend to find out just why I am fighting these Kids Next Door and make sure that I'm on the right side."

"Maybe it'll be easier for Numbuh 4 and Numbuh 5 to do this if they know all of our names." Numbuh 3 suggested. "I mean our codenames won't do much good if we're using the same system of secret identities as the Kids Next Door."

"Numbuh 3's right, and I think we're all in this deep enough that we deserve to know who we all are. So let's share names; I'll go first… Nigel Uno… uh, nice to meet you all."

"How many rules and regulations can you break in one day?" Numbuh 2 grumbled, "Hoagie P. Gilligan… Jr… oh, and uh, what he said." He concluded, aiming his thumb at Numbuh 1.

Numbuh 3 brightened seeing it was her turn, her chance to shed her anonymity and be known by a name instead of a Numbuh. "Kuki Sanban." She said with conviction.

Numbuh 4 was more solemn in his response, not to mention a little embarrassed about his full name. "Wallabee Beetles, but uh… everyone calls me Wally." Kuki giggled slightly at his first name.

Numbuh 5 sighed, being secretive had always been enjoyable for her, it gave a sense of power when she had knowledge of something that wasn't shared with others, but nonetheless, she consented to speak.  
"Abby Lincoln… well technically Abigail but everyone calls me Abby."

"All right, Numbuh f… sorry Abby, Wally, can you guys remember all our names?"

"Yeah sure."

"I got 'em. Now let's get this show on the road." And Wally opened the van door, still dressed in his black jumpsuit and body armor, and slid on a black polyester jacket. All he was missing was a pair of sunglasses and a darker hair color and he would've passed for one of the Matrix characters.

"Hey wait Num… Wally, you can't go see your brother dressed like that, he'll know that it was you that attacked his Treehouse."

Wally adjusted his coat neck and replied calmly: "My brother and I have an agreement to never keep secrets from one another. If I want to appeal to that I'm gonna need to come clean with my secrets too."

"But what if he decides to take you prisoner?"

"Wally please change." Kuki pleaded.

"He's my brother you guys, he looks up to me, and he loves me. Trust me he's not going to do anything rash. And besides, if I'm wrong you'll be along to rescue me soon enough, eh?" He meant this as more of a joke, since he didn't expect them to be able to pull off a mission to rescue him without the aid of Numbuh 5.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a mission to complete and a brother to interrogate."

"Good luck champ."

"You too Abby."

And with that, Wally turned in the direction of the Sector V Treehouse and started off. It was going to be a long walk…

* * *

**Author's Note** – OK then... Yes the next chapter will involve the discovery of the truth of Sector V's past, and both Numbuh 4 and Numbuh 5 will make important discoveries. Thank you all so much for the reviews, and I promise this story is going to get even better. 


	9. Rediscovery

**GATHERING INFORMATION  
**

"You're going to do WHAT?"

The DAFDTL directors were furious for a multitude of reasons. They were enraged to hear that the Sector V operatives hadn't been apprehended and the base was still standing. They were infuriated to hear that Numbuh 4 had been taken prisoner. And they were livid now to hear from Numbuh 1 that he intended to return to Cleveland to attempt a rescue operation.

"We're going to go back for him. He's a valuable member of this team, completely irreplaceable both as a fighter and as a friend. I couldn't bear to leave him with those dastardly Kids Next Door if I hadn't expended every effort within my power to save him. And I came back here to Base Command to tell you in person that we are going to return to the Sector V Treehouse, and we are going to rescue Numbuh 4, and once we have him back we are going to figure out a way to crush our enemies completely."

"A moving speech Numbuh 1, but you remember the protocol for joining our organization and you know what happens if you are captured. We waste no effort on those who cannot pull their own weight. Numbuh 4's capture is regrettable, but what is more important is not to jeopardize any other operatives in a foolhardy attempt to save him. And it is important to make sure that this doesn't happen again."

"With all due respect," Numbuh 1 countered, "this organization is only able to endure because it has field operatives and courageous individuals like Numbuh 4 to keep it strong. A plan can only work perfectly in theory; it needs operatives like him to put it into action. And to go and retrieve him, I think, would be in the best interests of our organization and our team."

Being the avid actress of the team, Numbuh 3 decided to venture her opinion and sway the directors:

"Please directors. We must go back for him. Wally would do the same for any of us."

When Numbuh 3 noticed the blunder that she had made, she puckered her lips and sucked them into her mouth, as though she might draw back her words as easily as her lips.

"I beg you're pardon Numbuh 3, what was it you just…"

Numbuh 2 came to the rescue. "She said we must go back for him W-w-allll… WHILE… while he still has a chance."

"I see," the quintet of DAFDTL directors replied, though they had some skeptical looks. "Since you all seem so obdurate about this course of action we shall allow you to go. But know this, if any of you should fall captive to the Kids Next Door along with Numbuh 4, there will be no one coming to save you. We will not risk any more of this team or any others for a second rescue."

"Understood," Numbuh 1 replied and he bowed low. As he and the others turned to go, the DAFDTL stopped them.

"Wait! Where is Numbuh 5?"

"Oh, she went to gather some extra equipment from her room while we came to speak with you, directors. But by now I imagine she's probably back at the helicopter. She was adamant about returning to Cleveland to save Numbuh 4."

The DAFDTL seemed to accept that and stood up from their bench to leave. Numbuh 3 then offered a suggestion.

"Maybe you should come to Cleveland with us and observe the operation."

The DAFDTL stopped there and looked quizzically at Numbuh 3. Numbuhs 1 and 2 gave innocent smiles to mask their apprehensiveness. The five directors turned together in a huddle and mumbled for a few moments.

_There you go Numbuh 5, the rest is up to you_, Numbuh 1 thought to himself as the DAFDTL turned around and gave the team a curt nod.

* * *

Abby hung from the ceiling by a single rope that did not prevent her from spinning around as she descended. She lowered herself by the motors in her harness, very slowly, trying not to catch the attention of the many motion sensitive cameras in place around the room. Nigel had… 

_No, he's Numbuh 1 while your within hearing range of those DAFDTL_, she thought to herself. Though it was impractical for her to be correcting her own thoughts when no one else could hear them. Abby was just naturally thorough.

The Code Module was in the center of an enormous room, situated on a desk terminal with a keyboard and monitor.

_Huh, Tom Cruise ain't got nothing on me_, Numbuh 5 thought to herself as she descended. And indeed her mission and the manner in which she was carrying it out was almost identical to Mission Impossible.

Abby switched off the motor on her harness as she hung directly over the computer monitor. There were laser motion sensors all over the desk, but from an elevated position she could just get her fingertips to the keyboard without setting off the alarms. She activated the computer and opened the files on the Code Module.

She selected the 'Archives' folder, and found several sub-files, including: '_List of Current Operative Codenames'_, _'List of Current Villains'_, _'Moonbase Fleet Arsenal', 'List of Ex-Operatives' _and_ '2x4 Technology Armory'_.

She selected the _Current Villains_, just to see if it included anything on the DAFDTL, and unsurprisingly it did, a whole file.

Abby pulled a small Flash Drive from her pocket, inserted it into the USB port on the terminal and downloaded the _DAFDTL_ file. She figured it was more important to retrieve the information than read it at the moment. Once the download was complete, she closed the file and went back to _Archives_. This time she opened the file, _List of Ex-Operatives_. The file was huge, much too big for her to download to the Flash Drive, so she decided to try searching by names.

_Okay Abby, moment of truth_, she thought as she typed in the two words she was most afraid to get an answer for: _Lincoln, Abigail_.

She hit 'enter' and the computer cycled halfway down the list until it fell on a document that read _Lincoln, Abigail_, and below it, _Lincoln, Cree_. Abby's eyes nearly popped out of her head she was so surprised.

_Better I just download it now and read it later with everyone else._ She decided, and proceeded to download the documents on herself and her sister. She couldn't help but notice that on the individual name bars there were a number of columns. One column entitled Years, with a span of numbers (2002-2009 for her, 1996-2002 for Cree), and one entitled Sector, with a letter. Shockingly it said V, for her and Cree.

Abby was having trouble holding her focus with all this coming to her at once. _Sector V? Seven years? CREE!_ It was a little more than she could handle, but Abby was good at keeping her cool, and she proceeded to complete her mission. She entered the next name that came to mind:

_Gilligan, Hoagie_.

The page scrolled down and sure enough she found three people named Gilligan. The icon fell on a _Gilligan, Hoagie P. _who served in Sector V from 1971 to 1976.

_Numbuh 2 isn't that old is he?_

Then below it she noticed the one she was really looking for. _Gilligan, Hoagie P., Jr._ had served 2002-2009, also in Sector V. Below him she also noticed a _Gilligan, Tommy _of Sector V who only served in 2004.

Abby downloaded all three of these names as well and proceeded to check for her other teammates.

_Uno, Nigel… …(2002-2009)… …(Sector V)_

_Sanban, Kuki… …(2002-2010)… …(Sector V)  
Sanban, Mushi… …(limited service…2003-2010)… …(Sector V)_

_Beatles, Wallabee… …(2002-2009)… …(Sector V)_

Abby downloaded all of it, the initial shock of what she'd witnessed had worn off, but still she was amazed. She had been a child-terrorist? Is that what she had been doing with all those years? But why couldn't she remember any of it?

She returned to the main database and opened the file on _KND History_. She made a search for Sector V, 2002-2009 and the computer took her straight to a huge document entitled Sector V: Best of the Best. Abby downloaded it and decided she had all that she and the team were going to need for the present. She withdrew the Flash Drive, secured it in a pouch on her harness, and switched the harness to draw her up slowly.

_Ain't no such thing as Mission: Impossible for Abby Lincoln_, she prided herself as she climbed out of the room and made her way back along the crawl spaces to her room. Opening the ceiling cover, Abby took one last look in her pouch to see that she hadn't dropped the Flash drive, then hopped down through the hole to her room. 

She looked at the clock on the wall, saw that she might still have a chance to make it to the helicopter before takeoff and went running for the hangar as she grabbed several random packs of harnessing equipment.

Abby came running up to the runway to find the helicopter just sitting on it's pad. No one was there. She went over to the aircraft, opened the side door and climbed in.

"Oo-ey baby, I complete my mission, and I _still_ make it back to the helicopter before the rest of those guys. All hail Abby." She laughed as she congratulated her magnificent success.

* * *

_She must still be gathering the supplies we need for the mission… yes, that's the excuse I'll use._ Numbuh 1 thought. 

_Oh who am I kidding, the DAFDTL are never going to buy that._

Numbuh 1 was walking up the runway to the helicopter with Numbuhs 2 and 3. He expected the DAFDTL (who were following close behind with a retinue of bodyguards) would indeed be curious about Numbuh 5's absence. She may have been the stealthiest of the team, but she wasn't invisible to the higher-ups. Numbuh 1 had hopes that he could pass off Numbuh 5's absence as her fumbling to find necessary rescue equipment, but he didn't know how long he could keep up that ruse before the DAFDTL got wise to his intentions. The plan had looked ingenious in theory, but the application was proving to be much less certain.

_Maybe I can convince them that we should leave without her?… oh, sure!_ He rebuked himself. He could only hope to stall them long enough without them getting too suspicious, and then he would have to go in and get Numbuh 5, whether or not she had completed her mission.

Numbuh 1 was still stewing over ideas and excuses for why Numbuh 5 would be late and why he should go back to help her get the equipment she needed, until he got to the helicopter, climbed in and took a seat next to Numbuh 2.

"Well then, to Cleveland if you please Numbuh 2." Came Numbuh 5's superbly calm and composed voice. Numbuh 3 was sitting right next to her so she didn't look so surprised, Numbuhs 1 and 2 on the other hand had been expecting to see her coming running up the runway from the hangar at the last minute, which should've been many minutes away.

"What are you doing here?" Numbuh 2 asked.

Numbuh 5 reached forward, holding a little pouch in her hand and tossed it to Numbuh 1 as she patted Numbuh 2's shoulder.

"I'm just waiting for you guys." She sniggered.

Numbuh 1 stuffed the pouch into his breast pocket as the DAFDTL directors approached the helicopter. He invited them to take their seats in the cargo hold, they merely curled their lips in disgust.

"We have our own transportation, thank you, but you are welcome to use your little toy to lead us to Cleveland." They sneered and walked over to the private jet.

As soon as the directors were aboard their own aircraft, Numbuh 2 set the controls, switched on the engines and they were off.

"Numbuh 5, you were supposed to retrieve information, _while_ we were gone, not from the time we got here to the time we left again." Numbuh 1 criticized her.

"Well you said on the way over here that you were going to tell the directors that you were gonna rescue Numbuh 4, then the _whole team_ was going to figure out a way to beat down the Sector V Treehouse. How could you do that with me stuck in New York?"

"I would've sent Numbuh 2 to get you."

"And what made you think the directors were going to allow you? _And_ what makes you think the directors wouldn't notice I was gone? I mean I'm good at not being seen, but I ain't invisible."

"All right, all right. Did you get what I asked you to get?"

"Stuff on the DAFDTL, and a lot of stuff on us?"

"We were on the Code Module?" Asked Numbuh 3.

"What about the Kids Next Door and their purpose?" Numbuh 1 pressed.

"Well there wasn't exactly a mission statement for the organization, but don't you think Numbuh 4 will figure that out."

Numbuh 1 gritted his teeth. "Numbuh 5, the next time you go off mission, be sure you have all that I asked you to get before you decide to tweak any of the rules."

Numbuh 5 slouched down in her chair mumbling about what a 'pig-headed jerk' and 'near-sighted buffoon' Numbuh 1 was. But besides her grumbling, the flight back to Cleveland was made in complete silence.

* * *

Wally had been turning over how he would approach his brother and elicit the responses he desired, but Wally had never been very tactful with language, and Joey, despite his obvious good-boy charm, had a knack for being able to use a very sharp tongue and a cunning mind when he needed. 

Numbuh 2…

_Hoagie! His name's Hoagie!_ Wally corrected himself.

...Hoagie had gone a long way from the Treehouse before stopping, and Wally had been walking for more than half an hour trying to get back to the Treehouse. He knew he wouldn't have a lot of time to ask questions of Joey, but he didn't want to run all the way back to the Treehouse and risk being abducted while he was winded from so much running. Wally hated the idea of being suspicious of Joey, who he trusted above all others, but after what he had just seen he was not without some doubts as to his brother's innocence.

Wally was now only a couple blocks from the Treehouse, and it looked even more imposing than ever.

_Probably because my favorite person in the world is in there._ He thought.

Wally came up to the front door of the house that held up the mighty tree and with some hesitancy gave a firm knock on the door – after his time abroad Wally had grown to disdain most modern conveniences, and among them were doorbells.

A kind-looking woman of about middle age answered the door with a genuine smile.

"Hello, may I help you?"

"Yes, good day," Wally began by using that greeting in the stereotypical Australian fashion. He often employed it when he wanted to get someone to laugh or at least feel less insecure around him. And indeed the woman had to hide a slight chuckle at hearing him use that characteristic Australian greeting.

"Would you perhaps be related to Joey?" She took a guess.

"Uh, yes, as a matter of fact I'm Wally, his older brother…"

"Oh, Joey said you were at college."

"Yeah, I'm just home, visiting for a couple days. Um' is he here by chance?"

"Oh of course dear, one moment I'll go get him. Oh and please come in."

Wally did as he was told and entered the front hallway, but he decided to just stand there and wait for Joey to come. The woman had gone upstairs and he could hear her calling:

"Joey dear? Joey? Your brother Wally is here to see you."

There was some trample of feet on the upper floors, and then the woman emerged from one of the hallways on the second level with twelve-year-old Joey Beatles at her side. Joey was wide-eyed as he looked on his brother. It looked to be genuine happiness and surprise, but Wally, fearing a trap and ashamed that he should be suspicious of his brother, was wary.

Joey ran down the stairs and right into Wally's arms, squeezing him tight.

"Hey Wally. Man I've missed you bro, how come you never call home anymore?"

"Sorry about that Joey," Wally apologized with empty words while only half-hugging his little brother. "I've been pretty busy lately."

"Yeah I'll bet. Senior year must be tough. So how's the lady-situation, hey?"

Wally rolled his eyes. Unlike him, Joey had developed a liking for girls a little earlier in life, and it had made him popular in ways Wally never had been. Wherever Wally had been in school he'd always intimidated most people with his tough guy front and bad boy attitude. And inevitably that persona of his attracted some girls who were interested in a rebel. Joey on the other hand, though he was certainly a fairly tough person was as thoughtful, warm and sweet as Wally was cold and seemingly indifferent, and that attracted even more girls. So many so that Joey didn't feel unnatural around them and had even had a couple serious girlfriends since Wally left home.

Still, for all their differences, both in their attitude towards the world and in their ten years difference in age, the two brothers had always been the best of friends and completely trusting of one another.

_Until now_, Wally reflected.

"Hey Joey, listen, I need to have something of a _private talk_ with you. Think you could step outside with me for a few minutes?"

" 'Course Wally." And Joey led his brother out to the front step and closed the door.

"What did you wanna talk about?"

Wally didn't know how to say this. Approaching a topic anyway other than straight on had never been his strong suit, so he decided the first thing to do was affirm his brother's promise to be both discrete about the discussion and truthful to him.

"Joey," he sighed as he began what he knew would be one of the most painful conversations of his life. "Before we say anything, let's both promise that we'll never mention a word of this to either mom or dad…"

Joey looked somewhat confused at the sudden seriousness of tone, but he nodded sincerely. "All right then, agreed."

"And… let's promise that we won't lie to one another."

"Okay Wally, nothing but truth, of course."

Now came the point of no return. Wally took one last deep breath, unzipped his coat and folded it over his arm. He was taking the plunge.

"Joey… are you part of the Kids Next Door?"

Joey was shocked by the question at first, then when he eyed his brother's black and orange body armor and full body jumpsuit his eyes grew even bigger.

"Wally… that was… you did… how do you…?"

"Joey, I'm just here to talk, okay? Nothing else… I just want to know the truth." Joey looked down just for a second, then nodded his head as he looked at his brother again.

"And to answer your question: yes. Those people who attacked your Treehouse earlier? The DAFDTL Operatives? I was one of them."

Joey was aghast, he had the same look on his face that Wally imagined _he_ must've had when he found out about Joey being in the camp of _his_ enemy. The both of them sat down heavily on the step in front of the door. This was an awful lot to be taking in.

"How long have you been with DAFDTL, Wally?"

"Only two months now. How long have you been with the Kids Next Door?"

"Almost six years…"

"SIX YEARS!"

"Not so loud Wally, we wanted to have a private conversation, let's keep it that way."

"Why did you join the Kids Next Door Joey?"

Here Joey hesitated. He knew the answer well enough, but it was expressly forbidden to discuss anything about the organization with anyone who wasn't a kid. But nonetheless, Wally was family and Joey trusted him more than anyone. If Wally couldn't be trusted, Joey knew no one who could.

"…because of you."

"Because of me!"

"Yeah, that's why I took the codename Numbuh 4. Guess I wanted to pick up where you left off."

Wally stopped for a second as the weight of these words sunk in. How could it be? It couldn't… could it?

"Joey, are you saying? I was…" and before he could finish, Joey nodded. Wally was beside himself.

"I was a child terrorist? How? How did that happen? Wha… Why can't I remember it? What did I do?"

"Child terrorist! Wally what are you talking about?"

"Joseph Beatles _do not_ play stupid with me, you made a promise not to lie. I know what sort of things your organization is up to Joey…"

"Wally whoa! Now I admit Kids Next Door Operatives fight for children's rights, but we aren't _terrorists_. We don't blow up buildings or hurt innocent people…"

"Then tell me Joey… what is it that you do?"

"We battle adult tyranny?"

"Adult-tyranny!"

"Well… like ice-cream men who don't stop for kids, or cafeteria ladies who try to force kids to eat really nasty food, or prep-school teachers who try to…"

"All right Joey I get that, but what do you _do_?"

"Well we go and we stop them from continuing their operations. A lot of times we have to use force and kick a few butts, but we never really hurt anyone… why what did you think we did?"

"My bosses told me that you and your organization tried to spread fear everywhere, overthrow governments, and terrorize society like a bunch of hooligans."

"The DAFDTL told you that? Wally they're the worst adults of all. They've been enemies of kids everywhere since back when they were kids. Don't you rememb… oh, right."

"No Joey I don't remember. And I admit what I have to do for my organization I don't always like, but who am I supposed to believe Joey?"

"Believe _me_ Wally, I'm your brother."

"A brother who lives in a Treehouse filled with weapons-grade technology. Joey that Treehouse has more armaments than a small military base."

"We don't have a single lethal instrument in there Wally, there isn't a single KND weapon in the whole organization's arsenal that can inflict more than just some minor pain, and certainly nothing permanent."

"Joey, I want to believe you, you know I do… but I spent the last two months fighting Kids Next Door Operatives in New York, in Florida, even in the Arctic Circle, and they were all aiming to…"

"Arctic Base... the Code Module? YOU STOLE THE CODE MODULE FOR THE DAFDTL!"

"Joey, shhhh…"

"Unbelievable Wally. You taught me to be loyal to my friends and always do things to help kids and protect anyone and everyone from tyranny in all forms… how could you do something like that?"

"As far as I knew I _was_ defending against tyranny and protecting kids, Joey. I was defending against the tyranny of kids who wanted to destroy society and everything good about it. And I was trying to break up the Kids Next Door Organization so no kids would go down that path ever again."

"Wally don't you know who the DAFDTL are? Or what they plan to do?"

"To be honest... no."

"Ok then, we've got a lot to discuss…"

* * *

**Author's Note**: Most of the discussion will come out in the next chapter and include the whole team. I'm glad to hear you guys are liking this story, and please don't hesitate to let me know what you think of the writing or what you feel needs to be included, I'm open to suggestions. 


	10. Retribution

**RETRIBUTION**

_I hope he's okay_, Kuki kept thinking. She was very worried about what the Kids Next Door would to Wally, especially since he had so many things going against him: they were going to recognize him as the fighter that had beat them up and would certainly hate him for it, among his adversaries would be his little brother Joey, and even Wally wouldn't lift a finger to harm him. She didn't think Wally would even raise a finger to defend himself against Joey.

_I hope he's ok_…

* * *

Abby hadn't said anything about what she'd found in the Code Module, and no one had bothered to look at the files on her Flash drive yet, they all wanted to wait until they had their second source to compare to. Numbuh 2 was driving down the road, under the shadow of the giant Treehouse. Everyone heaved a great sigh of apprehension and nervousness. If Numbuh 4 / Wally _were_ a captive in that bastion, then this mission was going to be anything but a cakewalk. 

Needless to say, it was a big surprise to everyone when they saw Numbuh 4 / Wally on the front steps of the house underneath the Treehouse, talking closely with his clone of a little brother, Numbuh 4 / Joey. When Numbuh 2 stopped the car and Numbuhs 1, 3 and 5 got out, Wally motioned for all of them to come over. As they came, Wally also motioned back to Numbuh 2 for him to follow as well. Numbuh 2 unbuckled his seatbelt, grabbed his surveillance database module and ran up to the house with the rest of the team, though very cautiously. He had made sure to disable the Automatic Mission Log to prevent the DAFDTL directors from seeing this.

"Uh, Joey… this is my team… guys, this is my little brother and heir to my Numbuh… Joey."

"Wow… it really is you guys…" Joey's mouth hung open.

"Us guys?" Nigel cocked an eyebrow, since he wasn't sure what Joey was referring to.

"Come in Nigel, all you guys better come inside. We've got a lot to discuss." Wally beckoned.

"Wait a minute," Abby interrupted, "how do we know this ain't a trap?"

"You guys are my teammates, why would I lead you into a trap?"

"Sibling loyalty…"

"Come on Abby, if you won't trust Joey then just trust me cause I'm your friend."

That answer seemed to satisfy Nigel, Hoagie and Kuki, but Abby only walked in after everyone else had gone in ahead of her, she didn't feel right about just waltzing into the enemy's house…

_No, it's me. I'm the real enemy here ain't I_…

Joey led the whole team into the basement; Abby still had her suspicions and only followed with caution and wariness. Joey said that had to go there because the rest of his team wouldn't notice them there while they were busy cleaning up the damage to the Treehouse. Joey then left them, saying he had to go back and help with the clean up since he was first-officer. Wally beamed slightly at hearing that. As soon the door was closed, the five friends took seats around an old ping-pong table, and Hoagie set up his monitor at one end so they could all see the screens. Nigel, Abby and Hoagie set up some old lawn chairs on one side of the table, with Abby in the middle, while Kuki and Wally set up chairs on the other side.

* * *

"Okay then," Nigel began, "Abby, why don't you load up the files you downloaded from the Code Module, and while you're doing that Wally can tell us what he gathered from Joey." 

"Well…" Wally began as Abby walked up to the computer and proceeded to insert the Flash drive and upload the Code Module files. "My brother told me an awful lot, about the Kids Next Door, the DAFDTL, and… well quite a bit about us as well.

"How does he know…" Kuki started to interrupt and both Nigel and Hoagie shushed her.

"Why don't you tell us what he had to say about the Kids Next Door and the DAFDTL, cause I think I got all the information of any importance pertaining to us on the Code Module." Abby interrupted.

"All right… well it's a pretty crazy story, but he seemed very earnest when he told me, so I guess I haven't a choice except to believe him. He said that the Kids Next Door was formed like, a long time ago by a group of kids who saw the tyrannical rule of adults over the children on Earth, so they built a massive base on the moon… no wait it pretty much all began way before that… kids created adults, the adults rebelled, the kids were banished and forced to live on the moon, then kids returned to Earth to live as part of the adult's families…"

"That's crazy!" Hoagie exclaimed.

"I didn't say it wasn't mate, I just said it's the story I heard from a boy who would never lie to me… anyway, the point of the story is that the Kids Next Door aren't a terrorist organization. They're freedom fighters for children's rights. Like the right to watch cartoons, eat ice cream and be free of oppressive adult authority. And they may have a lot of pretty high tech weapons and stuff, but none of it's deadly or destructive."

"Wait one moment," Kuki stopped him, "what was that you said about the moon?"

"Apparently there's a large structure on the Moon, built a lot like a treehouse, only it's made of metal, plastic and glass."

"And there are children up there?" Kuki stared wide-eyed.

"All around the clock, and some of them rotate, so they have the technology to fly to and from the Moonbase consistently."

"Now it's just starting sound ridiculous." Hoagie declared. And Wally couldn't deny it did sound pretty wild.

"It's true," came Abby's voice from the computer. "I was just reading over some of my profile from the Code Module and it makes several mentions of a Moonbase and the things I did there in my service."

"SERVICE?" Nigel was astounded.

"Yeah, that's the other thing you guys," Wally took back the floor as Abby continued to search through the data files. "You know how we all live near here and this mission made us all feel a little strange about it being _Sector V_? It's because we were Sector V, years and years ago. The Treehouse used to belong to Nigel and we all worked in it."

"We knew each other?" Kuki squealed, more in shock than delight.

"We were a team?" Nigel asked with a little more control.

"Not just _a_ team guys," Abby spoke, "_The_ team. From what this article says, it sounds like the Kids Next Door still talk about us and the things we did. I mean our respective strategies and techniques for our specialties are all studied at the Training Academy in Arctic Base: my stealth tactics, Hoagie's piloting maneuvers and weapons and technology design, Nigel's leadership skills and mission formulation, Wally's martial arts techniques, even Kuki's diversionary tactics and medical treatment. We were legends…"

"And from what I heard Joey say, it sounds like we still are."

"Do we have fan clubs?" Kuki couldn't restrain herself.

"This is serious Numbuh 3," Wally snapped.

Kuki shut up. She'd just been trying to make a joke to lighten the heaviness of the mood since she wasn't very good with serious situations, and normally a cheeky comment like that would brighten up the people she was talking with if not help alleviate the mood. What really made her shut up, and what made her start to tear-up ever so slightly, was because it had been Wally who'd snapped at her. And not only that, he'd been so impersonal and bitter about it that he'd called her Numbuh 3 instead of using her real name. That had hurt the most.

"Whoa, hold on, let me get this straight." Hoagie took charge. "All five of us knew each other. We were members of this wacko organization to fight adult… whatever, _and_ we did… whatever it is we did, in the Treehouse right over our heads?"

"Well actually the Treehouse was on top of Nigel's house while he was still in the organization, it only got moved after he got decommissioned. But uh, the rest of that… yeah that pretty much sums it up Hoagie."

"If anyone wants to have a look, I got all your individual biographies up here on the computer," said Abby. Everyone except Wally was too shocked to hear her, or respond to her if they had, so Wally walked over to the computer and opened the file: _Beatles, Wallabee_. He went through it for a couple minutes while everyone else composed themselves.

Wally stood up, blinking and shaking his head a little fiercely like he had just dunked his head in water and was trying to shake it off. He walked around and sat back in his chair while Hoagie proceeded to look at his own file. When he was done, Kuki stood up and went to have a look at hers, and when she was done she sat next to Wally and neither of them dared so much as turn to look at one another. Nigel took a long look at his file, then the Sector V article, and when he sat back down at the table he had a look of incredulity that his friends had never seen in him before.

But he didn't keep the look for long.

"This Decommissioning thing in the biography? That thing that concluded our service? What exactly is it?" he asked while facing the table, but it was clear the question was intended for Wally.

"Wha... oh, it's a device on the Kids Next Door Moonbase. Whenever a child reaches the age of thirteen, they're decommissioned since they're no longer kids. And to prevent them from remembering access codes and other secrets that belong to the KND, they hook you up to this machine and drain out your memories of the Kids Next Door. Joey told me the device can only drain a person's memories of the KND, it leaves everything else."

"That's why we don't remember any of it!" Hoagie pounded his fist on the table, causing it to shake. That's where his childhood had gone, down the KND drain.

"And what did you find out about the DAFDTL?" Nigel asked both Abby and Wally.

"Looks like this wasn't the first time we met them either. Their name stands for Delightful Adults From Down The Lane, and when we were in the Kids Next Door, they were our arch-nemeses..."

"The Delightful _Children_ From Down The Lane." Abby finished.

"Joey said that _Father_ retired some years ago and the brats have taken charge of the anti-child campaign. He said that pretty much every anti-child act on the large scale is fronted by their organization." Wally concluded.

"We were recruited to serve those we once fought, and pitted against what we used to hold dear." Kuki mumbled. She was very much lost in her thought after what she read about herself in the biography.

"Well that's the situation boys and girls." Abby declared as if it was a clear-cut matter.

* * *

"So what do we do now? Do we like... defect and hope for clemency, or do we stick with this current position and just keep this whole thing a secret?" asked Hoagie.

"What kinda question is that? What's there to debate?" Abby exploded. "We were in the Kids Next Door and they kicked us out, that simple, why should we try to go back? And another thing, they _erased our memories!_ Is that registering with any of you guys? They hooked us up to a machine and drained us of all our childhood experiences. They stole our childhoods from us! They stole _us_ from _each other_, and you guys are acting as if we owe them something!"

"Abby I can't believe you'd say something like that," Kuki retorted incredulously. "Just look what we've done to them: we captured children and imprisoned them like criminals, we stole their most precious secrets and attacked them in their safe places without warning and without mercy!" Here she shot a nasty glare at Wally before she continued. "The DAFDTL were our enemies all along, and they lied to us and used us against our old friends. Is that registering with _you_?"

"Huh, some friends, Kuki. A part of me wishes we had gone and taught that old club a lesson a long time ago. Taking my childhood away from me… I'd say what we did was plain and simple justice. Retribution is what we done!" she sneered.

Now Wally was getting angry as well. "I'm not proud of what we've done Kuki, and that was my brother and his friends that we attacked, _Abby_, there was nothing just or righteous about it…"

"ENOUGH!" Nigel shouted and silenced them all.

"Look there are good reasons for taking either course of action…"

Kuki was aghast: "Good reasons for _either course?_ I don't believe you Nigel. We've been played against our old friends, and for nothing but our enemy's gain …"

Wally interrupted her with controlled emotion, "Kuki, come on we said our peace, let's let him speak."

"Thank you. Now you've all got some good points. Abby is right, our childhoods were stolen from us. And I don't think it was fair… and in some ways the thought of payback is, I confess, rather appealing…"

Kuki started to open her mouth to protest, but Wally grabbed her wrist and gave her a gentle squeeze to tell her that they should all just listen to what Nigel had to say.

"…and Kuki is also right. We've been lied to and played by the DAFDTL. And indeed, it was for the gain of old enemies…"

Abby still looked sour, but she assented by lowering her head and eyes in a sign of acceptance that this was the truth.

"…but before we start taking sides let's look at this objectively and make sure we don't do anything rash. Now the DAFDTL were our sworn enemies when we were in the Kids Next Door, I don't deny the validity of that after reading that biography on me. But we aren't the Kids Next Door anymore…"

Again Kuki wanted to argue, but again Wally gave her a gentle squeeze to keep her quiet while they listened.

"…and in some ways the DAFDTL have a good idea about what's right for children. Even if it means feeding kids a few extra vegetables or sending them to bed a little early it's still in the best interests of the children, whether they enjoy it or not. However, that's what kids have parents for, and in other ways the DAFDTL are too extreme in their views. Children need to have some freedom to eat candy, watch TV and goof around with their friends if they're expected to grow at all. And in that light the Kids Next Door are an essential counter balance to the DAFDTL."

Hoagie had knitted his fingers together while listening and nodded his agreement to this comment.

"What happened to us in the Kids Next Door, our decommissioning… I agree it wasn't fair, and I wish I could've kept those memories, if only to remember all of you. But we knew it was going to happen, and we accepted our responsibilities in the organization with the knowledge that it would indeed end as it did. If fate meant for us to have vengeance for what was taken from us, I think, after all that we've done, we have it."

Here Nigel paused, stared at his interlaced fingers and squeezed his eyes as he tried to put his thoughts into words.

"In light of everything that's happened these last few weeks… I'd say we have a balance of allegiance. We owe nothing to the Kids Next Door for what they did to us, and after all that we did to disrupt their operations we got our payback for what they took from us. I'd say we're square."

Now it was Hoagie that vouched his opinion.

"But what about the Code Module? The DAFDTL still have it and they can still use it to disrupt other Kids Next Door operations and track operatives. Aren't we responsible for that?"

"If the Kids Next Door need it so badly they can get it back themselves. They're capable of doing at least that much ain't they?" Abby spoke bitterly.

"Hoagie's right, we should get it and hand it back to the Kids Next Door. Shouldn't we?" Kuki ventured looking around the table.

"Not unless we want to start up a fight with the DAFDTL all over again," Nigel replied. "I'm sorry to take sides Kuki but I think we've made enough enemies in these couple months."

"I say we give it back," Wally declared. "We settled our score with the Kids Next Door like you said Nigel. But I say we still have a score to settle with the DAFDTL. Let's get the Code Module and give it to my brother…"

"Oh here we go," Abby put her face in her hands.

"…If nothing else it may help to smooth out our relationship with the rest of the Kids Next Door." Wally continued. "Think about it. Even if we go along with the DAFDTL as though nothing's wrong they're going to be suspicious of what happened on that mission to Sector V and they're going to be wondering where we are right now. Who knows what they might do to us if they think we're committing treason. If we decide to leave, they may come after us. And the Kids Next Door sure aren't going to do anything to help protect us from the DAFDTL after all we did. Think about all those battles we had, there's enough evidence to point the finger at each and every one us as the perpetrators. Even if we go back to our regular lives and leave the rest of this behind, the Kids Next Door and the DAFDTL are guaranteed to come after us."

Nigel nodded, the wheels in his head were whirling. "But if we possess the Code Module, we gain some leverage in asking for clemency. I think Wally's onto something." He muttered as he ran his index finger along his chin.

"So what? Now you want me to go and steal the Code Module all over again?" Abby snapped. "Then what? We all make a run for Cleveland and hope Wally's little brother and his team up there don't arrest us on the spot and throw us into the Prison at the Arctic? Or didn't you guys know that Arctic Base had a prison? That place makes Alcatraz look like a baby's playpen, I saw it with my own eyes, and I'm not going to be locked in that prison for anything."

Hoagie was starting to get a little frustrated by Abby's stubbornness: "Well for crying out loud then Abby what do you say we do? Forget about it? Pretend like it doesn't matter?"

"Why not forget about it? We did it once didn't we?" Though Abby was trying to make it sound like something innocuous that they could all handle, a pill that they could all swallow, she faltered in her speech and she started blinking a little faster. Her eyes were growing moist.

"We stick with the DAFDTL and we keep each other…" Abby paused as she sniffled ever so slightly. Despite her knack at covering up the truth, everyone saw plainly how she felt. "…we leave, and we risk losing everything. Not just our stipends, if those even are for real, or even just our freedom. If we leave the DAFDTL, or if we try to go back to the Kids Next Door we might get decommissioned all over again. Or did you guys not consider that that might be a possible punishment for the things we did or the secrets we now know?"

Now tears were forming in her eyes and still she tried to mask her sorrow with bitterness. Still, all of her friends could see through the facade.

"I would rather die, than lose you guys again. Or does that friendship mean so little to the rest of you…?" and with that, the proud and seemingly unshakeable Abby Lincoln collapsed in Nigel Uno's lap, sobbing like a hurt and timid little child.

* * *

Nigel was a little shocked. Indeed he had never thought Abby could show herself to be so fragile. He put his hand gently over hers where it tightly gripped his shoulder, as if she were hanging over a long chasm and he was the only grip to keep her from falling. He placed his arm on her back and shoulder and patted lightly while gently shushing her; the way a parent reassures their child that everything will be made right and no harm will ever come their way. 

Hoagie slid his chair over, placed his hand on Abby's quivering back and felt the pain of all her emotions through his palm and fingertips. She in turn stuck her other hand out behind her, grasping the air wildly for his. Her crying started to slow when she at last grasped his hand, but it didn't stop.

The presence of both Nigel and Hoagie soothed her and the worst of her sobbing abated, but still she cried.

As Kuki watched this painful ordeal she too began to tear up. Wally, who had been working to hide his tears by blinking rapidly, slid his hand down the table and ever so gently curled his fingers around Kuki's, but he kept his gaze fixed on the weeping Abby. Kuki kept her gaze on Abby as well, but when she felt Wally's hand on top of her own, she uncurled her fingers and twisted her wrist around until she and Wally held each other's hands, palm in palm.

When Kuki was satisfied that Nigel and Hoagie had Abby under control and were indeed successfully comforting her, she turned around to face Wally, and upon catching sight of his waterlogged eyes, the gravity of the situation and what she stood to lose hit her like a tidal wave of fearful possibilities, and she broke out in loud, hysterical sobs. Wally responded by taking her head with his free hand and holding her tightly to his shoulder. She cried so heavily he soon felt the tears seeping through his jacket, but he didn't loosen his hold and gently stroked her long, raven black hair, shushing her as Nigel was shushing Abby.

Kuki felt so distraught at the thought of losing all of her beloved friends again, the very idea filled her with such terror that she thought death would be a welcome alternative to living a life without them, and she let that anguish have free reign in her cries. She'd lived so many years thinking that there was something wrong with her, that she was incapable of making friends or falling in love or doing anything that normal people do. Now after finding all that had been lost the only things she felt was regret that she had lived in ignorance of so many wonderful things, and fear that she could lose it all again.  
Wally let go of her hand and slid his arm around her shoulder, embracing her in a great, tender hug. She hooked her hands underneath his arms, grasped his shoulders and dug in with her fingers as though afraid he would be wrested from her if she didn't hold on with all her might. "There, there," Wally muttered as he held Kuki in his arms. She felt so feeble now, as if she had bones made of porcelain. For a moment, Wally feared that holding her as tight as he was might cause her to shatter.

All five friends sat there for what seemed hours, embracing and comforting one another. Though the boys didn't vent their fear through sobs, or tears of such volume, they too were crying as they held the girls tightly. Hoagie and Wally both had their heads hanging low, frowns curling their lips downwards and steady tears rolling down their cheeks. Nigel hung his head and let his eyes close as he comforted Abby. He kept his mouth shut and his face firm, but let a few bitter tears fall at the thought that he could lose these four greatest of friends.

_No… these people aren't friends_. He reprimanded himself. _They're family. This woman in my arms may not have been born of my parents, but that makes her no less like a sister to me. And this man with his hand on her back is as much my brother as could ever be. This is my family… and I can't let anything so precious be taken from me. Never again…_

When Abby had calmed sufficiently enough to breathe without heavily sobbing, Nigel stood up and began pacing back and forth, leaving Abby in Hoagie's arms. He still felt hurt by the truth of the situation before them and he was no less saddened than any of them. He just had a knack for keeping his feelings to himself.

As Nigel paced and Abby began to regain herself, Kuki's crying abated enough for her to stop pressing her face into Wally's shoulder and sit up on her own, though she was still sniffling and wouldn't let go of his hands once she grasped them again. Wally saw that infamous crease in her face from pressing against the seam in his jacket, but he didn't have the heart to smile or giggle about it.

Then suddenly, Nigel stopped his pacing… he had come to his conclusion and knew what to do.

"You guys. We won't be able to keep up this charade of ignorance about each other and about the KND or the DAFDTL until next March. Those Delightful Dorks," everyone's eyebrows flew up as they heard him use such a term, "will catch on to our act sooner or later, and we already had a near miss this afternoon. We can't run away from this, we're better than that. So I think we'll have to go with Wally's plan. We'll steal back the Code Module," he turned to the tear-stained face of Abby, "we _all_ will. Then we'll hand it over to the Kids Next Door and ask for clemency. If necessary, we'll offer our services to fight the DAFDTL or any other nemeses of the KND if that's what it takes to secure our freedom."

Here he gave pause and gave a tiny shake of his head and grinned ever so slightly before he started up again.

"But I'm not Numbuh 1 anymore. I'm just Nigel Uno now. And I'm not your leader, I'm your friend. This isn't for me to dictate, it's for all of us to decide as a team… So… who's for sticking it to those Delightful Dorks?" And he shot his hand up in a fist of defiance.

Hoagie followed suit, then Wally, then Kuki. Abby stalled for a moment as she sniffled just a little. She looked up into Nigel's eyes, smiled broadly and put her fist up as well.

"It's decided then… we attack tonight. And we get the Code Module to Moonbase straightaway."

* * *

**Author's Note** – sorry for giving you that much emotional stuff, but I promise, the coming chapters and events are _really _going to wow you guys. 

Please review, next chapter will be up in due course.


	11. Showdown

**SHOWDOWN

* * *

**

**Authors Note:** Hi Everybody! Sorry, but I'm going to be attending to some serious schoolwork for the next several days - I got two exams coming up and their both in high level science courses! So this will be the last update, probably for at least a week.

Good news is this is a relatively long one, and I think it should tie you guys over until I can finish school stuff. ENJOY!

* * *

"And I told you Numbuh 4, it's out of the question." Numbuh 7 burst at his upstart second-in-command. 

Numbuh 4 / Joey was talking with his team about what to do about his brother and the former Sector V, now turned DAFDTL, then seemingly reconverted. Though Numbuh 7 was by rights the leader, and Numbuh 4 had never complained to the higher ups about this, he was disappointed with Global Command's choice of making someone as inept at command as Numbuh 7 the leader for Sector V. Numbuh 7 wasn't a bad kid, he wasn't stupid or selfish or cruel, he just wasn't one of those kids that was born to lead and was often looking for advice on the best course of action or making hasty and foolhardy choices. He would've made a good operative, but leading just wasn't in him.

The problem was, Numbuh 7 knew he wasn't a very good leader and tried to prove himself capable of his position, but inadvertedly ended up making a bigger fool of himself, or somehow or other, injuring the team.

Numbuh 4 had been first officer for Sector V since he was eight years old, which was when he had distinguished himself in a fight with five eighth-graders that had tried to steal his lunch money. Since then, no one had dared underestimate his prowess as a fighter, for indeed the younger brother of the famed Numbuh 4 / Wallabee Beatles had mastered his brothers techniques almost perfectly and had surpassed all other Kids Next Door cadets and even the drill-sergeant in his class at the Academy.

Numbuh 4 / Joey had originally been offered the position of Sector V leader after his own leader was decommissioned, but he felt that his place was as a fighter rather than a leader. However, when Global Command had sent the shrimpy, unimaginative and somewhat cowardly Numbuh 7 to be leader, Joey had regretted his original decision. Numbuh 7 had shown exemplary marks in the field of mission theory and planning while at the Academy at Arctic Base, however his weakness lay in that he couldn't accommodate a change in the situation or react properly to anything unexpected, and often times it had been Numbuh 4 who had taken charge during a crisis to guide the team. And this had created much friction between the two of them and the rest of Sector V could sense it. Most often they often sided with Numbuh 4. Numbuh 7 was the leader according to Moonbase and the Sector V files, but Numbuh 4 was the leader according to the rest of the team.

"Numbuh 7, I understand your misgivings about my brother and the rest of his team, and I assure you I do sympathize with your feelings and your concerns. However the fact is that the Code Module is in the hands of the DAFDTL…"

"Only because your brother and his friends stole it from Arctic Base."

"…Yes Numbuh 7, but…"

"…Numbuh 4, as your superior officer I would prefer that you address me as _sir._"

Now the guy was just getting on Joey's nerves.

"Well, _sir_, if you insist we stick to formalities, might I then request that, as I am two-years your senior, you likewise address _me_ as 'sir'."

Numbuh 4 really didn't give a care how he was addressed and didn't want to be going off topic on such a ridiculous argument, but he felt he had to put this kid in his place if this mission were to be successful. Numbuh 7's triumphant gleam waned and he receded to his sour-looking countenance as Numbuh 4 continued.

"Now I don't deny my brother's guilt in having taken part in the theft of the Code Module, however he and his team know where it is, they know how to get close to it, and if they were able to steal it before I'd imagine they could do it again."

"And you expect us to trust them Numbuh 4? You wish to jeopardize the whole team with this insane mission to New York which is so obviously a trap?"

"Guys," he put his argument forth to the rest of the team who were thence gathered. "I know my brother did some bad things, some bad things to our base and to us, I haven't forgotten what happened earlier this morning. But I know him better than anyone, and I know he's true to his word. He and his team want to make amends for what they've done, all they need is a little support. We give it to them and what went wrong can all be set right."

Seeing as the other kids only gave a couple half-hearted, half-smiles, Joey decided to use a new tactic to rally the agreement of the team.

"And in either case, it's the Code Module, it needs to be retrieved before any more secrets are lost to the DAFDTL. But first it needs to be found; they can do that. After they take us there we can call in reinforcements and retrieve the Code Module and maybe even subdue the DAFDTL."

Now his friends started nodding, but they weren't super enthusiastic, and Numbuh 7 was still adamant in his position. Joey had hoped not to need to use this one, but he was running out of ideas and needed some more enthusiasm to completely tip the vote.

"And guys think about this. _The _Sector V, Numbuhs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 themselves. The very best of the best in all of Kids Next Door history. We'd be serving with legends in their biggest fight ever. How could you pass up a chance like that? This fight is going to speak volumes in the KND History records. Just imagine if we could be a part of that."

Now no one (save Numbuh 7) had any reason left to be hesitant. Numbuh 4's friends hopped up on their feet and shouted a "hoorah". Numbuh 4 turned to Numbuh 7, waiting for the go-ahead, which he was required to give in the event of the whole team deciding on a course of action. Heaving a great sigh of frustration and with no enthusiasm in his tone Numbuh 7 blandly stated: "Battle stations!" And everyone scurried to the hangar to outfit the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. for the assault on the DAFDTL Base in New York City.

Meanwhile, Numbuh 4 ran downstairs to the basement to tell his brother the good news.

* * *

Nigel was pacing back and forth, and Abby had told him to stop before he wore a hole in the floor, but still he walked. Abby and Hoagie were sitting back to back, waiting impatiently, while Kuki sat on Wally's lap and the two of them held each other tightly. Joey had come down shortly after they'd concluded their decision and then just as quickly, he'd gone back up to debate with his team, leaving the five young adults in the basement. Nigel insisted on them staying there as a sign of good faith that they didn't intend to just slip away when given the opportunity, and everyone had agreed. 

Joey opened the basement door, Nigel stopped pacing, Abby twisted around Hoagie's back to get a clear view of Joey at the top of the stairs, and Kuki and Wally just looked up from where they sat without letting go of each other.

"So what's the verdict?" Hoagie asked.

"I think I got them to go along with it… I played to their admiration of you guys and the fact that you're Kids Next Door legends. My leader is still real suspicious of you guys, but the rest of the team is really jazzed."

"Wow kid, pretty clever." Abby smiled and gave him a slight nod.

"We're about to go, if you guys are ready."

"Well then guys, shall we?" Nigel asked simply enough, and all five of them proceeded to ascend the stairs and follow Joey up to the Treehouse and into the hangar. Hoagie felt the strangest sense of familiarity in this great vault of a room as they walked to the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. When the five adults came in they were greeted by the "oohs" and "ahs" of three of the four kids in the vehicle, the fourth one however, who sat in the commander's chair, looked at them with great distrust.

"I take it that would be your boss?" Wally asked of his little counterpart.

"Numbuh 7?… That's him all right." Joey replied.

Clearing his throat noisily to convey an air of authority that he didn't have, Numbuh 7 ordered the door shut and the pilot, Numbuh 40, to set a course for New York City. Hoagie sat up at the controls, working as the copilot. Numbuh 40 had insisted that Hoagie take the controls as she had modeled her training at the Academy on his example and would be honored to be _his_ copilot, but Hoagie had declined, saying that the ship belonged to her, and was thus hers to pilot. Still he said he was happy to lend assistance as a copilot, and this flattered her.

Nigel noticed that there weren't any remaining seats, so he consigned himself to stand on the deck. Even as a thin, young man he gave the impression of one with great authority. One would think he were a captain, surveying his ship from the quarterdeck that he was so used to standing on, and indeed despite the rocking of the ship as it soared through the clouds, he kept his balance.

_Pack your overnight bag 'Destiny', you have a date to keep with my friends and me._ He thought.

* * *

Numbuh 40 brought the ship in over New York around sunset, cruising passed the Statue of Liberty as she came in over the airport, down on the far runway where Hoagie directed her. She landed her vessel with absolute precision and silence and Hoagie commended her for it. At this, she blushed, and strange, but Wally could've sworn he saw his little brother fuming. 

"Well then Numbuh 4," Numbuh 7 began as the doors opened, and Numbuh 4 faced the door, waiting to disembark. "(_cough_) e-hem… have your brother and his team enter the base to ascertain the presence of the Code Module and have them report when they have found it, then I'll confirm with Moonbase and send for reinforcements. The rest of the team will stay here."

"Will do Numbuh 7."

"STAY HERE! Oh come on Numbuh 7, we could all help." Whined Numbuh 40.

"If our friends care to risk themselves, so be it. This team will stay at their stations and do nothing else until I say otherwise." Numbuh 7 declared. Everyone was getting sick of the great wind-bag he was acting like, but they quietly obeyed.

Numbuh 4 hopped out of the vessel and took off running for the hangar with his older brother sprinting just behind him, and the rest of the old Sector V hastening to keep up. Hoagie was having the most trouble keeping up since he was carrying a large LASER magnification cannon that Numbuh 40 had provided for him. She had assured him it would be useful if they ran into the DAFDTL.

As the elevator descended, Numbuh 4 was bouncing and swaying on the balls of his feet, completely unable to stand still. Wally put his hand on his little brother's shoulder and gave him his own little look of reproving, which said simply "calm down, be patient". Numbuh 4 stopped bouncing on his feet, but he switched to shaking his arms and hitting his fists together. Wally rolled his eyes at Joey's antics but he decided it was pointless to try and stop him.

When the elevator opened into the center hall with the blank white walls, the whole team was surprised to see the DAFDTL themselves sitting up on the bench they had occupied only a matter of hours ago, they looked oddly calm and composed.

Nigel spoke first:

"Fancy seeing you here directors. Or perhaps I should call you, the Delightful Adults From Down The Lane."

"Greetings Nigel," they replied in their dark and inhuman monotone voice.

Nigel stood his ground in the center while his friends started dispersing around him. Hoagie and Abby set up the LASER cannon provided them to his left, while Wally and Kuki took on fighting ready stances on his right. Joey stood just to Nigel's right, himself in a ready stance.

"One quick question before we proceed to kick your butts as always Delightful Dorks. Why?"

"Why vengeance of course Nigel."

He shook his head slowly. "No, the plans are never _that_ simple or straightforward with you brats. Why did you hire us to turn on our old organization? Why not just get a real team of expert spies and soldiers who could do the job instead. Much less of a risk that they'd have reason to betray you I suspect."

"True Nigel, but who else would be able to function as comfortably as the Kids Next Door themselves when under duress of fighting children and in such situations as we placed you? You may have had your conscious memories erased in your decommissioning, but your subconscious thoughts were still viable, and could still allow you to work together as well as you did. Your friendship and compatibility provided the very means to your destruction. To tell you the truth Nigel, we had originally planned on destroying you and your team as soon as you had retrieved the Code Module for us, but seeing just _how_ well you all work together, we decided to keep you until you were no longer of any use to us. Well guess what Kids Next Door…"

A glass dome curled over the heads of the five siblings as they spoke.

"You've just reached your expiration date."

* * *

The domed pod lifted itself out of the floor, and pieces of the white floor and wall began coming away from their flattened positions and conjugating around the pod. In a matter of seconds, the pod was surrounded by odds and ends of solid white material and made the shape of some giant insect-like machine, with the DAFDTL at the center. 

"Behold, the harbinger of your demise. The most sophisticated neuro-interface operated weapon in the history of mankind. The _Mantis_."

And the Delightfuls gave a demonstration of the machine's power as it stood up on three pairs of spindly legs connected to its thorax, and its arms began spinning around. There were two pairs of arms, each looked something like a folding fan that had been slightly opened, and Nigel could tell by the whistling sounds being made that they were razor-sharp. They were going so fast they were blowing wind at the team.

"Kids Next Door... your time… has come."

* * *

Nigel was somewhat shaken by what stood before him. He drew his arms back slightly as he felt the gusts of wind from the swirling blades, but he didn't allow himself to retreat a single step. He couldn't remember ever feeling so scared of something before. No test in school, no date with a girl, no new situation or challenge that he had ever experienced before filled him with as much fear as did the white monstrosity before him. 

"Have I mentioned I hate bugs?" Hoagie grumbled as he held onto his mounted LASER cannon. It brought a smile to everyone's features.

A bit of confidence brought back to him, Nigel proceeded to instruct his friends.

"Hoagie, try to fire through the arms and destroy the pod. Abby, Kuki and Wally, you guys try to entice those Dorks to attack and expose themselves to Hoagie's cannon. Keep an eye out for any wiring or other electronic devices; any weak spot will be a welcome target."

"Why aren't you using our Codenames, Nigel?" Abby inquired of him.

"We aren't fighting for the Kids Next Door or the DAFDTL you guys. We're fighting for each other and our right to keep our lives and memories. Regardless of the outcome, I'm quite sure this will be our last mission. I'd like to remember it as the one mission when we called each other by our real names. Neither of you is a Numbuh to me, so I refuse to address any of you as such."

All of them gave a curt nod and an understanding smile to their self-appointed leader as they set themselves in battle positions to fight the _Mantis_. Wally and Kuki spread themselves out to the right, while Nigel and Abby went left, forming a semi-circle around the _Mantis_. Joey reached into his pocket and pulled out his communicator:

"Uh, Numbuh 7, we're going to need some backup down here." But he got no response.

Four of the five Delightful Adults turned around inside the pod to face each of the Operatives as they came around the sides, then three of the machine's four arms went off to the sides to shield and fight. Two arms pointed at Kuki and Wally and continued spinning like propeller rotors, the third one pointed at Abby. Nigel realized his adversaries had seen through his small bluff. He had hoped to draw all four of the arms to the sides and leave the pod center exposed for Hoagie, but the DAFDTL knew he couldn't move like his teammates, so they didn't bother to try to put up much of a defense against him. The pod was still shielded by one arm from Hoagie's cannon, and it seemed almost impossible that any of the rest of the team could get in to attack the machine without extreme risk to their lives.

Numbuh 4 saw this and took off running to stand and fight beside Nigel. He would've been at his brother's side under any other circumstances, but in this case Wally could hold is own, Nigel couldn't.

Seeing the scales of balance tipped, the _Mantis_ attacked first. It's right arm swung wide like a scythe at Abby, Nigel and Joey, trying to cut them. Abby and Joey instinctively dropped, Nigel however was a little slow to react, and by the time he realized his peril, the bladed arm were near to cleaving him across the waist. Joey and Abby rolled over and knocked him in the knees to make him fall backwards. Though Nigel got a wide gash that went clean through the front of his body armor, the blade failed to cut his person, and he hit the ground with a heavy thud, terrified, but fortunately unharmed.

The arm came up over the prostrate trio and fell like an axe in the act of chopping. Joey rolled clear, while Abby grabbed Nigel's hand and tugged him after her as they narrowly dodged the monstrous blade.

When they had righted themselves Abby directed Nigel to go back to Hoagie and help man the cannon. Nigel didn't want to abandon his friends on the battlefield just because he couldn't lend them aid, but he could see clearly enough that his presence was actually endangering his team, so he consented to go back.

* * *

Meanwhile on the other side of the _Mantis_, Kuki had been cartwheeling back and forth and flipping around the blade set aside for her, but she was tiring and the Delightful adult that was directing the blade's movement showed no sign of boredom or laxity. Wally was flipping around as well, several times he'd tried to grab onto the dull side of the bladed arm after it swept passed him, thus far he had failed, and had twice come close to getting cut in half. 

As soon as Nigel was clear of the fight, the DAFDTL needed to find someway to defend against all four of their attacking adversaries so they tried putting the fourth arm in front of Numbuh 4. But they let their guard down, and Hoagie was able to fire a single blast at the glass shield. Alas he only managed to singe it. Hoagie grimaced and Nigel came to his side:

"Nice shot, but do you think you could break it?"

"That blast was only about a third of maximum energy output capacity. I think a maximum output blast could probably destroy it, but I only have enough power for at most two shots of that magnitude. I'm going to need the clearest opening you and the others can give me."

"Got it." Nigel replied, almost like he was the one _taking_ orders rather than _giving_ them.

* * *

The DAFDTL had seen their vulnerability in giving one arm to each adversary, so they compensated by increasing the movement of the overall mechanized insect and swirling the four arms around them, keeping at least one arm in front to block Hoagie's cannon, while keeping up a constant defense on each flank. Abby, Joey, Kuki and Wally backed off slightly as the monster spun its massive blades faster and faster, and the machine shuffled around on its spindly legs. Then from out of the center came that blood-chilling quintet of monotones. 

"You know Kids Next Door, we had originally christened this device as _The Dragon_…" and as they spoke, flames erupted from the arms, coming out from the axles on which the blades spun.

"Can you guess WHY!"

From where Hoagie stood, it looked like four, spinning white blossoms spewing fire in a fountain-like manner. Then the flame-throwing scythes started spiraling around the center chassis again, and though he wanted to watch out for his friends and make sure none of them got hurt, he couldn't take his eyes away from where the central pod was located. He had to be ready for any opening to disable the device, or he and his friends would surely be killed.

* * *

_Why do I suddenly wish I never stole that Code Module?_ Abby sarcastically berated herself as she hopped away from a spray of fire and dodged the blade on another arm that swept by. She and Joey had been dodging the deadly instruments for the last few minutes, trying to see if there was a pattern that the machine was following, and if there was a way to get through it, so far they hadn't found any. 

Abby was trying her best not to incite the DAFDTL to come any closer to her, so she kept her distance. Joey on the other hand was very tempestuous and tried his best to come running in fast, then jump clear at the last moment. He wanted the fight to come to him and he was only too willing to draw the wrath of his foe When the attack had first started up, Abby had felt a natural female need to protect Joey as if he were a defenseless little child, but his acrobatic skills and energetic style of advancing and retreating made it clear that he was in no way out of his league, even against so deadly a foe.

* * *

Kuki hopped over a blade that swept at her feet, trying to cut her off at the knees. Then the arm turned around and sprayed fire at her while a second arm brought its blade down like an axe behind her, creating a trap. She couldn't go toward the machine or back out toward the wall, and now she was beset with a small, solid wall of a white blade on one side and a flamethrower pointed her direction on the other. 

Despite the swishing, crashing and roaring all around him Wally heard Kuki screaming, and he instinctively bolted over the planted blade to rescue her.

The shielding wall arm that kept Kuki from escaping opened its flamethrower on Wally as he jumped, and though he got a little singed by the intense heat, he didn't falter for a moment. He landed on the other side to find Kuki huddled up against the blade, keeping her back to the approaching flames of the other flamethrower. Wally threw his arms around her in a protective vise-like grip, presenting his back to the flames. The body armor and jumpsuit her wore were mostly flame-retardant, but they weren't completely impervious to the searing heat, and except for bending his neck over Kuki and away from the direct spray, his head was completely unprotected.

The fire was intense, and it roasted his back and arms and singed his golden hair. Mercifully, the flamethrower overheated and ceased to pour forth its deadly ammunition. The blade of that arm however raised itself up and prepared to slice the two figures as they stood up. Wally saw the blade just in time and pushed Kuki over the planted blade before he himself jumped over.

As Wally came tumbling down on the other side he winced and groaned, his body was in such agony, but he did his best to ignore the injuries and continue fighting. The planted blade now emerged from the ground and again attempted attacking, it flew through the air with a bright red streak, having been splattered with a thin stream of blood from the wound inflicted on Wally's back by the other blade.

* * *

"You guys," Nigel called to them. He accepted it when none of his three team members and their one current KND operative looked back at him, "Try for the legs and keep the arms out and away from the center. Keep it up." 

Abby wanted to make the dive for the legs, but she knew she was a little too big to move through the spinning blades and passed the shuffling mechanical legs without getting sliced and diced. Joey on the other hand was in no way handicapped by his size, and took the liberty of making that dive under the great machine, clearing one blade as he went down and avoiding two legs from skewering him to the ground.

"JOEY!" Wally screamed, but he was trying with all his reserve to avoid getting sliced or burnt himself and couldn't dive in to help his daredevil of a brother.

"Just keep 'em going Wally, I'll take care of the rest," Numbuh 4 shouted back.

As the battle raged on just above, Numbuh 4 found himself in the midst of many thin plates and a great deal of exposed electronics.

Numbuh 4 reached into his hood and took out an old wooden stick. It was chipped and worn down and only about two feet in length, but still had its original red hue and the golden _4_ emblazoned on one end. Wally had left it in the Kids Next Door Archive Vault with instructions that it be given to the next operative to bear the Numbuh 4. Joey had been the only other person to use that famous weapon that had on more than one occasion saved the Kids Next Door; both the organization as a whole and the Sector V team.

Now Numbuh 4 set to using it to smash away at the wiring on the _Mantis_. Sparks flew and flakes of silicon rained on him but still he swung at the machine.

"What's happening?" The DAFDTL asked each other as the movements of the great robot became slower and erratic. The flamethrowers stopped completely and the arms, though continuing to spin, slowed their rotation around the main body.

Hoagie frantically stuck his eye in the targeting scope and aimed at the exposed pod. He pressed the trigger, and almost instantly a blinding beam of concentrated energy shot forth from the nozzle and caused the glass cover to shatter. Abby and Kuki hopped up on the chassis and wrapped their adversaries in the climbing wires on their harnesses. Joey hopped out from underneath the machine and opened up his communicator:

* * *

"Numbuh 7, this is Numbuh 4. The DAFDTL have been neutralized, we need reinforcements to see to the retrieval of the Code Module and the transportation of the DAFDTL to the Arctic Prison. Over." 

"Acknowledged, Numbuh 4. What of our 'friends'?"

_Finally you answer_, Numbuh 4 grumbled under his breath before he spoke. "Uh, there all here and…" it was only now that Joey realized the state of his brother. Which was that he had collapsed on the floor and lay on his belly biting his lower lip.

"NUMBUH 7 WE NEED MED-EVAC RETRIEVAL PRONTO! My brother's been severely injured."

"Of course, of course Numbuh 4." Numbuh 7 replied with the clear desire to appease Numbuh 4, but he held no conviction in his voice of wanting to carry out that last plea.

When Kuki turned away from the ensnared DAFDTL and saw Wally, prostrate on the ground and unmoving, she felt her heart constrict and her throat tighten.

"WALLY!" She screamed, as Joey ran out to him from under the machine.

She raced over to him and sat down, doing what should could to comfort him with her presence and her voice. She had no medical supplies to tend to his burns or his wound, which was still bleeding profusely, and she was terrified that he would either die of blood loss or go into shock and die.

"Joey," the stalwart man spoke hoarsely, "don't ever do that again."

Joey and Kuki laughed despite their concern. Kuki was crying, so she sat behind Wally while tending to his back and wouldn't let him see her for fear it might make him scared and worsen his condition.

"Kuki? Where's Kuki? Is she ok…?"

"For god's sake, I'm not the one who's injured you idiot," she said behind him, and he smiled through his grimace. "Oh, Wally why did you do that? You could've been killed."

"Because you were in trouble… how could I live with myself... if anything happened to you?" He croaked again as he smiled.

* * *

There was a rumbling, and Hoagie called to the rest of the team that someone was coming down. When the elevator arrived, it was full of Kids Next Door, high level, elite troopers with heavy armor and helmets and armed to the teeth with dozens of different 2x4 weapons. One of the operatives came up to Numbuh 4 and gave him a gas mask. Numbuh 4 didn't know what to make of this until the soldier ordered him to put it on, and upon obeying the command, several firing squads pointed their rifles at his brother and the rest of the ex-Sector V team, coating them with sleeping gas darts. They were all out in a snap.

As soon as the gas had cleared, Numbuh 4 removed his mask and demanded of the nearest petty officer:

"What is the meaning of this Numbuh… uh … 509. These adults are our allies, and this one needs immediate medical attention."

"Numbuh 4, sir our orders are to apprehend five adults, of descriptions which these five friends of yours match, and see them conveyed directly to Moonbase."

"WHAT! You're wasting your time taking them into custody? The Code Module is in this base, the DAFDTL _themselves_, are up on the hunk of mechanical junk, bound and gagged thanks to my brother and his team, and all you can do is play target practice with these heroes!"

"Sir, I am only following my orders. A whole battalion is on its way to see the DAFDTL taken to the ultra-sooper maximum security complex at Arctic Prison, and five other Sectors, as well as a third of the Kids Next Door Space fleet are on their way to retrieve the Code Module and take it to it's new secure station on Moonbase. My squadron and I were sent to do what we are doing, sir."

"Look at these people you just fired on. Do you even know who they are?"

"I was told that they are the former Operatives Numbuhs 1 through 5 of Sector V, sir. Regardless, my orders were to do as I have done, sir."

"I wanna talk with the one who gave you the order to arrest them."

"If you come with us to Moonbase, I'm sure Numbuh 1000 will be happy to oblige, sir."

"Numbuh 1000! As in Supreme Commander Numbuh 1000?"

"The same, sir."

Numbuh 4 hesitated, but seeing the need to not delay further help to his brother he consented: "All right then, carry on. And see that a medical team attends to my brother at once!"

"Yes sir!"

As Nigel and Hoagie, and Abby and Kuki were carried, or rather dragged, out of the room in a most undignified manner, Joey stuck beside his older brother until a medical squad arrived with equipment and a gurney to carry Wally to the ships outside. As they lifted him up and started wheeling him out of the combat zone, Joey walked beside him, holding his sleeping brother's hand. It was only now that the other members of his team came down.

"Numbuh 4, my goodness your covered in ash and smoke, are you all right?" Came Numbuh 40's compassionate voice. Numbuh 4 however, was furious, and he had no intention of letting up on Numbuh 40, even if he cared about her as much as he did.

"Where were you when I called for help! My brother and the rest of his team weren't equipped to take on that monster down there and look what happened."

"When did you call for help?" She asked.

"I called Numbuh 7 almost fifteen minutes ago asking for assistance and no one responded."

"Numbuh 7 told us it was someone on the wrong frequency."

Numbuh 4 gritted his teeth. "All right, tell that ...grrr... just tell him I'm going up to Moonbase with my brother, and I'll finish the report about the mission that _he_ was too much of a coward to help with." Numbuh 4 looked about ready to explode, and indeed he was finding it difficult to keep his voice low. He was grunting and breathing heavily like some bloodthirsty beast.

"Joey, I'm so sorry," she apologized, and it softened him.

"No... I'm sorry for yelling. I'll be back from Moonbase in a little while." And he gave her hug and hopped into the Med-Evac space-cruiser with his brother and the medical personnel attending to him. She waved as the door closed and the ship lifted off.

"Don't worry Wally…" Joey stuttered as he squeezed his brother's hand. "_I'm_ still on your side mate."

* * *

**Author's Note**: Almost there guys. Let me hear what you think of it and what you want to see happen… 


	12. The End?

**THE DECISION

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**Author's note:** Enjoy, and let me know what you think of it...  
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_I'm sorry Wally… OW! That must've hurt…_

Kuki winced as she tore Wally's jumpsuit off his back. They had been on Moonbase for about an hour now, and Wally had gotten very little attention from the Medical staff, despite the severity of his condition. Kuki had had to argue extensively for them to let her examine him and provide treatment. Thankfully, Joey had intervened on her behalf, and the Moonbase sentry had agreed to let her help; however she had to be watched by a guard force of 10 operatives.

_I can't believe this facility! A lollipop for a painkiller!_ Kuki cursed in her mind. Indeed the infirmary had an awful lot in the way of technology, but not much as far as medication. Just some burn ointments (which she applied to his neck and ears) and some antibacterial creams for small cuts and scrapes. Wally was going to need a lot of stitches on his back and she had no morphine or other drugs to numb him. If she didn't get him proper aid and medication, he would have to endure this procedure with complete consciousness and feeling!

"Joey, can't you convince them to take him to a hospital, he needs a qualified doctor and proper medications…"

"Hey adult! You address him as Numbuh 4!" One of the guards snapped.

Numbuh 4 glared at the guard before he replied.

"I'm sorry Kuki, but Global Command doesn't want to risk having you guys fall back into adult hands."

"For God's Sakes, Joey! He's your brother, aren't you going to at least _try_ to help him?"

"Kuki if it were up to me I'd be flying him to a hospital myself right now, but Command ordered this whole base on alert to make sure you don't leave. At this point I couldn't get him out of here in one piece even if I tried to fight through. I'm sorry, but there's nothing more I _can_ do."

Kuki hung her head in defeat, there wasn't any getting around it: she'd have to do the stitching. She felt like crying, knowing what pain she was about to cause. And if that alone wasn't enough, she was about to bring excruciating pain to the man she loved. She didn't like being in this position in the least, but she knew that it was in Wally's interests to stitch the wound quickly so it could start healing.

She rummaged through the supply cabinets and was able to find a few sewing kits for serious wounds. There weren't many sutures, and on an injury as big as Wally's she was going to need all them. She brought the kits back to the operating table where Wally was squeezing his eyes closed and breathing carefully so as not to upset the wound with his expanding and contracting rib cage.

She stopped and looked down at his back. The firm muscles were stained with small streams of blood that were drying into a rusty black. The cut itself was about the width of her pinky fingernail and traveled at an angle from the base of his left shoulder blade to about where his right kidney was. Fortunately the wound hadn't severed any particularly large arteries and none of the organs were damaged. Still the wound was fresh and tender, even the lightest touch was going to cause Wally a great deal of pain.

"Wally," Kuki spoke as soothingly as she could, trying to dampen his fear of the pain that was coming. "I'm going to have to stitch up your cut…"

"But we don't have any morphine or other painkillers do we?" he replied with complete understanding of the situation.

"No…" she replied, biting her lip.

"Do what you have to do Kuki. I'll tough it out." He replied nonchalantly.

"Wally the gash is more than a foot long, it's going to need tons of stitches to…"

"I know… Kuki I'm not afraid."

"I am."

He lifted his hand and she immediately took hold of it.

"I know it's going to hurt, but it has to be done. I'll be brave, just try to keep going until it's finished. Be strong for me Kuki."

She gave his hand a firm squeeze to let him know she understood and that she was going to be brave. She let go and Wally put both his hands in Joey's; who stood just in front of his brother, ready to help him suffer the imminent pain in what little way he could. Kuki took a deep breath and picked up the sutures.

* * *

The procedure took almost an hour, and several times Kuki had to stop because she simply couldn't bear to hear Wally breathing the rapid, shallow breaths of pain and suffering, or feel his back flex in agony; agony that she was responsible for imparting. While working she came realize that he was only on this table and suffering pain because of her. If she hadn't gotten in trouble, he never would've had to come and save her, and he never would've gotten injured so badly, and she wouldn't be sitting here now causing him further pain while trying to help him recover. 

Finally the last stitch was snipped and Wally breathed somewhat normally again. He had to be careful, since the gentle expansion of his rib cage threatened to tear the stitches and further aggravate the wound. Joey was near tears from Wally squeezing his hands, but he was just as resilient to pain as his brother, so he didn't let any of his hurt show, though his hands were alternately white from squeezing and blood red and purple from being constricted for so long. The medical staff returned to the room and wheeled Wally back to the Detainment Center with a small number of guards, while the remaining guards in the room surrounded Kuki and walked her back to the Detainment Center.

Kuki, Wally and the rest of the team were at one end of the Detainment Center, all in separate cages. Like dogs at the Pound. Ironically the configuration of their imprisonment was identical to the configurations of all their meetings for the last few months: Nigel was in the center, set back near the corner, Abby and then Hoagie were in separate cages off to his left and Kuki and Wally were in cages off to the right.

As the guards left the room after shutting Kuki in her cell and locking Wally in his, Nigel spoke:

"Wally, how are you doing? …All things considered…"

Wally was still belly-down on a wheeling hospital bed and was now exhausted from the painful procedure he'd just been through, but he managed to give a faint, croaking reply:

"Never bettah'."

Kuki began to tear up again. Her cell had solid metal walls on either side and she could only see out of the front where there were bars. And since her cell was right next to Wally's she couldn't see him. She sat on her cot with her face in her hands. She wasn't so much bothered by what she'd had to do to Wally; she'd gotten over that. What concerned her now was the uncertainty of what would happen next.

Hoagie decided to break the mood:

"So… what do we do now?"

"I don't see that there's anything we really can do Hoagie," Nigel replied. "Unless anyone has some tools for picking locks and a lot of guts to try something so dangerous I think we're just going to have to wait until we hear from those kids."

"Don't worry guys," Wally croaked, "Joey 'll convince the higher ups to let us go. And if not he'll bust us out of here himself."

_Humph…whatever_. Abby shook her head as she scorned him in her thoughts.

"Wally I don't think there's anything more that Joey can do to help us… he couldn't even convince Global Command to take you to a real hospital when you really needed it."

"Have faith you guys." He replied very simply.

Everyone was silent for a while. Of course they all wanted to keep faith that there was a way to get out of this, but the situation was looking very desperate. They sat in their cells twiddling their thumbs, hoping that a solution would present itself, or a messenger would come to bring them some news of what was being planned for them, but hours went by and nothing happened.

* * *

Then at last, the door into the Detainment Center opened and in marched a very arrogant looking kid with the Numbuh 1000 on his helmet and breastplate. He had a very stern face held by a stiff lip… _definite leader by the looks of him_… Nigel thought. With him was Joey. 

"My, my!" Numbuh 1000 began, "The Great Sector V themselves, finest operatives in Kids Next Door history. All other politics and allegiances aside I must say it's an honor to meet you…"

Then the admiring tone changed to one of cold determination and Numbuh 1000 made his voice into one of a leader, obscuring the personality of the young boy who had just been so pleased to meet his heroes and idols.

"It seems you've all been doing a great deal in these past few months Sector V. Attacking Kid Next Door operatives… ransacking munitions depots… _stealing the Code Module from Arctic Base_… quite impressive if I do say so myself. And as it appears now, you have also regained your memories…"

"No Numbuh 1000," Joey intervened, "not their conscious memories. They only know that they are familiar to one another, and they know the main tenets of their pasts from reading their files in the Code Module. But specifics about our weapons, technology and other secrets were wiped during their decommissioning."

"Ah, I see Numbuh 4." He paused, but only for a moment. "Well that puts them under the category of being Adult operatives, so I think it's obvious to all of us what must be done… ex-Numbuhs 1 through 5., I'll arrange for your transfer to the Arctic Prison where you will remain incarcerated until such time as I and the rest of the Kid Next Door feel you have repaid your debt to the organization. Perhaps we might even consider a second decommissioning after your sentence."

Abby, Hoagie and Kuki both gasped, Wally didn't have the physical strength to gasp and Nigel, though wide eyed and shaken, held himself steady to offer a bargain.

Not more than a matter of seconds after Numbuh 1000's words had sunk in, Nigel pitched his offer:

"Numbuh 1000, we are aware that we have caused great damage to the Kids Next Door, and indeed we did so in the service of the Delightful Adults From Down The Land. For that I do not deny there is need of punishment, however our punishment should fit our crime, and in our case there are some important extenuating circumstances."

Numbuh 1000 stopped to listen. "Yes ex-Numbuh 1? Such as?"

"When we were recruited by the DAFDTL, we were under the impression that the Kids Next Door was a worldwide terrorist organization that corrupted children's minds and sought to spread fear and panic with violence, and to overthrow governments. We went into the organization with the hope that we might crush the organization to protect any more children from going down such a path and from being such menaces to society. And when we rediscovered our records of past service in the Kids Next Door and learned about what the DAFDTL really intended, we took it upon ourselves to undo them once and for all and retrieve the Code Module ...which we are guilty of stealing."  
"I know Numbuh 1000 you mean to incarcerate us and consider erasing our memories again to protect your organization from a potential threat, but I assure you, we are no threat to the Kids Next Door. And we are willing to do whatever you require of us to prove it. We'll place ourselves at your disposal to use as spies, or even as operatives for your organization."

Abby affirmed his position. "Yeah, we'll do whatever you want if you'll forgive us and let us go free."

Kuki encouraged the argument further. "Please Numbuh 1000, we only want to be able to go back to our old lives and remember that the five of us are each other's friends."

Nigel spoke again to conclude. "Numbuh 1000 this is your choice. But we beg of you not to make us forget one another again. I swear to you by name and by all I hold dear, neither I, nor any of my friends here, is an enemy to the Kids Next Door."

The speech seemed to have the desired effect, Numbuh 1000 was blinking slowly as though trying to make sure his eyes were working properly and looking side to side as though unsure whether to follow his original pronouncement or agree to the plea for mercy. He turned away from the team and walked away just a few paces, then stopped to speak with Numbuh 4. Wally could just faintly hear his little brother talking, and the words sounded like they encouraged the action to let the team go.

After five minutes of this debating, during which Hoagie, Abby, Kuki, Nigel and even battle-scarred Wally were holding their breaths in anticipation, Numbuh 1000 and Numbuh 4 walked back to the cluster of cells. Wally grew nervous when he saw Joey's somewhat saddened and unoptimistic expression.

"Well ex-Numbuh 1…"

"If Nigel is easier you can call me that Numbuh 1000."

"Very well, _Nigel_, you make a compelling argument, and from what I hear from Numbuh 4 you did indeed put yourselves in great peril to make amends for stealing the Code Module…"

Everyone chewed their lips or crossed their fingers, hoping against hope that mercy was still possible.

"In light of this I am willing to forgo the incarceration and offer you a choice…"

Hoagie and Kuki let out a sigh of relief, but Abby and Nigel were both cautious and still nervous.

"I'm afraid that you five have proven to be such an effective team, that to allow you to remain friends and acquaintances is not an option…"

The smile on Hoagie's face fell away and Kuki's eyes went wide in horror.

"So this is your choice. You can accept a second decommissioning, where we will erase all your memories of the past few months and all of your knowledge about each other, the DAFDTL and the Kids Next Door. After which we will return you to your regular lives as though none of this had happened… or, we return you to your regular lives as it is, and you all agree to sever contact with each other. If any of you contact one another in any way, shape or form, you will be recalled to Moonbase and either incarcerated in Arctic Prison or decommissioned to prevent you from remembering one another…"

Though his back hurt him, Wally was breathing heavily, horrified at the choices before him. The boy hadn't shown any mercy in the least, he had just offered a choice of how the five friends could lose one another. Either they could forget each other completely, or remember and never see each other again.

_Cold, cruel and unfeelingly ruthless with dispensing justice; no wonder he's the Supreme Commander_. Nigel thought.

"I'm sorry ex-Sector V but in a few hours a shuttle will be departing for Arctic Base. If by then you remain undecided, you will be on that shuttle for the Prison. Those are your choices, and you have your set period of time to make your choice."

As he turned to leave, Hoagie spoke:

"Wait Numbuh 1000. I've already decided…"

Numbuh 1000 stopped in the doorway and turned around on his heel to face the legendary pilot and technology wizard of the old days of the Kids Next Door. Everyone else had also centered their eyes on Hoagie, even Wally had painfully propped himself up on his shoulders to see his friend while he made one of his biggest decisions.

"I choose decommissioning!"

Abby gasped and so did Kuki. Numbuh 1000 spoke first and Nigel soon after.

"You are sure ex-Numbuh 2?"

"Hoagie are you out of your MIND! You're opting to forget!"

"I know that Nigel… and I don't take this decision lightly. But I could never keep a promise to distance myself from you guys." He turned his head to look at the wall that was between him and Abby. "I love you all too much to do that." And though he couldn't see her, Abby was looking at the same wall and silently crying.

"Well then ex-Numbuh 2, your decommissioning will be tomorrow morning at 0900 hours. For the rest of you, you have until…"

"I choose decommissioning too," Abby declared. Everyone was again shocked.

"Very well then, Numbuh 5 we'll schedule you in as well…"

"Make room for three…" Kuki interrupted. "Make it four!" Wally added.

"Then I guess that's it… all five of us for decommissioning." Nigel affirmed.

For a moment Numbuh 1000 looked stunned. Perhaps he had been waiting for them to run out of time trying to pick their poisons, or maybe he had hoped that they would choose to keep their memories. He shook off his shocked expression and then continued.

"So be it," and turned and left. Joey lingered a moment, then he too exited, he looked very sad.

* * *

When he was gone, everyone was very solemn and quiet, but they were all burning with questions for one another. Kuki was the first to speak: 

"Hoagie, why did you ask for decommissioning?"

"Same reason I gave earlier, I'd never be able to bear the alternative."

Kuki wanted to press the question further, but she caught sight of something moving near the bottom of the bars of her cell. She shifted her gaze to see what it was and found it was a hand… _Wally's hand reaching around the wall!_

She pounced on it and squeezed, trying to wring all the pleasure and joy she could get from it. As if his hand were an orange that she could squeeze for juice.

"Oh Wally I'm so sorry!"

"Don't be Kuki. I had already chosen decommissioning anyway."

She gasped. "Wally you're not serious… you'd rather forget me?"

He chuckled "They don't make a decommissioning machine that can make me forget you, Kuki."

His promise was empty though and Kuki was frustrated by it. "Wally will you be serious… it'll make us forget each other just like it did before."

Wally became more solemn when he heard her say that. He recalled what had been listed in his file on the Code Module. It had said that both he and Kuki had been in a romantic relationship towards the end of their service. It mentioned that the two had always been particularly fond of each other, but when they had reached 12 and realized only a year remained for them to be together, they had decided to start dating.  
He had loved her then as he did now, and he had lost her despite his wishes to the contrary. The decommissioning erased all Kids Next Door related memories, even memories of love for a person who was part of the organization. Indeed his promise was an empty one.

Wally held tight to Kuki's hand and spoke with more sincerity.

"Kuki, I'd go through hell and back for you, and I'd do it again many times over if I had to. Why if I had my way I'd…" he stopped there when he realized just how much he would do for her if he had his way: he'd devote himself to her! And he hesitated to say it, fearful that it would only hurt him and her now that they were not far from the Decommissioning chair.

"What Wally? You would what? Please tell me, help me stay strong," she pleaded. She had a good idea of what he was going to say, but she wanted to hear him say it. She was already crying tears of joy.

"I'd… I…" he took a deep breath and resolved to just say it. "I'd be anything for you Kuki. I'd be your friend, your lover, your husband anything at all. Anything to be near you, anything to prove I love you."

Kuki felt her heart racing up, down and all around inside her chest from all the energy such happiness was giving her. _He loves me! He loves me!_ She heard herself shouting triumphantly in her head. If she weren't so distraught by what was coming she knew that she would be on her feet screaming it to the world:

_Wallabee Beetles LOVES ME!_

She felt tears running down her cheeks and she wiped them away. She was so happy to know he felt so much for her, but at the same time, so sad knowing the choices that they had made and what the consequences entailed. Her crying was both happy and sad, and for every tear of joy she cried, it was accompanied by a tear of sorrow.

"Oh Wally…" she managed to say through her sniffling, and she planted a big kiss on the back of his palm and drew in his scent while her tears wet his hand. She felt a weak tug and Wally drew their clasped hands around the wall toward him. Kuki had to put herself in an awkward position against the wall to allow her short arm to travel around the barrier and within range of Wally's lips. When it seemed her arm couldn't be stretched any further she felt him kissing her hand and it sent shivers through her whole body. The moment was simultaneously so perfect, and yet so sad.

They were in love… and they would soon forget it.

* * *

Abby, Hoagie and Nigel had watched Wally and Kuki holding hands and talking and neither had dared speak until Wally ended his kiss to Kuki's hand, and they both held their hands about equidistant from each other's cell, at a point where neither was in pain from being pulled too far to one side. Hoagie took the moment to whisper sideways to Abby: 

"Hey, Abby?"

"Yeah Hoagie?"

"When I chose decommissioning, why did you choose it right after me?"

Abby blushed, she knew the answer, but she wasn't sure if it was the one he wanted to hear.

"Cause I'd never let you do something like that alone."

Hoagie smiled: "Thanks Abby, that… that really means a lot to me." _Though more than that wouldn't go unappreciated_.

Abby could sense his slight disappointment in her response, and she decided that if she wanted to ask, it might as well be now.

"Hoagie?" She waited a moment, "Do you love me?"

Hoagie was a little thrown off by the question, after all, asking someone outright if they love you is pretty forward and answering it when it may not be a shared feeling is somewhat distressing.

"I ...don't know, Abby." Was his response, "I mean I ...I care a lot about you and I feel more comfortable with you than any other girl I've ever met, I just don't know what it is I really feel. Not sure I can put words on it."

Abby was relieved that she wasn't the only one confused; her feelings were almost exactly the same.

"I care for you too Hoagie. You're the best friend I've had in a long time; I just don't know if it's… you know… love. And I don't wanna risk losing such a good friend."

Hoagie smiled.

"Thanks Abby." He said, and this time he said it without any disappointment.

* * *

Nigel looked on all his friends. He saw Kuki and Wally holding hands, and he saw Hoagie and Abby talking closely. Then Abby looked up at him, blushed and turned away. He was afraid of what was coming, but he tried to find contentment in the knowledge that he had taken the honest road. Hoagie was right. He'd never be able to stay away from his friends no matter what. He didn't want to lose his memories, but if he had to choose between losing his friends now and keeping his memories only long enough to lose them too when he broke his promise, or losing everything at once, he felt losing it all at once would be the wiser choice. 

…_I'm sorry I couldn't save us, you guys. I'm sorry...

* * *

_

The next day, the jail keepers and a force of fifty Kids Next Door guards came in and escorted the whole team out of their cells, only one cell was opened at a time and this made the process painfully slow. The corridors leading to the decommissioning chairs were lined with Kids Next Door operatives, all hoping to get a last look at the KND legends reborn. After today, they would be regular, mindless adults, just like before.

Joey walked alongside his brother; though Numbuh 4 did his best to look strong while surrounded by his comrades he had no strength of will to force himself to keep his head held high or his eyes from looking down in shame. Wally saw this in his brother as he was wheeled along the corridor and he reached out and gave his brother a pat on the back.

"Hey squirt, you did all you could. Can't ask anything more than that."

"I'm sorry Wally. I'm so sorry."

"It'll be all right, Joey…" Wally held no conviction in these words, but he spoke them anyway in hopes it would assuage his brother's fears, as well as his own.  
"It'll be all right."

The process was short and without much ceremony. Numbuh 1000 had been kind enough (at least somewhat in the team's point of view) not to prolong the discomfort of the procedure with tradition and ceremony. The team went straight to the Decommissioning room and were seated immediately. The Decommissioning officer, Numbuh 356, came up to them and apologized for having to do what he had to do, and then began the procedure.

In the last few seconds before the machine went into effect, Wally and Kuki grabbed each other's hands, while Abby held onto Nigel's and Hoagie's. Then the machine started up. Gears twirled, pistons pumped and springs went back and forth. And then after a minute, it was over.

Numbuhs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the DAFDTL and of Sector V were gone…

**the end

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**Author's note:** PSYCH! Still have another chapter and an epilogue. Let me know what you thought of this chapter.


	13. My Brother's Keeper

**MY BROTHER'S KEEPER**

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Author's Note:** Sorry I'm late in updating. I just got back from a scuba dive in Washington. It was freezing! But enough of that... here's the last official chapter... I'll have an epilogue up soon. Read, review if you could, and most of all...

Enjoy!

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_To hell with it…_

That was Joey's final verdict on the matter before him. To hell with the Teens Next Door, to hell with Global Command and to hell with anything and everything that would keep him from doing what he had resolved to do. Wally had to know the truth, and Joey was going to give him just that, even if it cost him his own memories of the Kids Next Door and prevented him from entering the rumored Teens Next Door.

Sarah (Numbuh 40) was the only one who knew what he was about to do and what had been occupying his attention for the past two months. After Numbuh 7 was court-martialed for negligence and demoted to a low-level position at Arctic Base, Numbuh 4 had been promoted to Sector Leader, and this time he took it without objection. True he only had about a year left until his decommissioning and the position was more of a formality since he already was the effective commander of Sector V, but there were other reasons he took the position:

_1) He needed to whip the team into shape,_

_2) He had train Numbuh 40 to be his first officer to guide the next leader, or assume that position herself,_

_3) He wanted to be able to suppress the tyranny of adults, not just within range of the Treehouse but wherever he wanted,  
_

_and 4) He wanted to use the executive access to the Archives and Code Module to gather information about Numbuhs 1 through 5 of Sector V and all their exploits._

Sarah had been adamant about telling Joey not to do such a thing, it would mean his immediate decommissioning if he were caught, maybe even a sentence in the Arctic Prison. Sarah had pleaded that Joey not commit such a reckless act, but he convinced her that it was necessary, and he did so with only four words:

_I'm my brother's keeper._

After that she had stepped aside. She was very understanding; it was one of the things he loved most about her.

Joey had collected just about every scrap of information about his brother and the old Sector V with which he had served. He'd printed their files off the Code Module, and gathered every picture from the Archives that had so much as a glimpse of one of the old team membuhs. He had made two large scrapbooks of it all. One he had made about the team as a whole, how they'd all come together and just how much they had all done with one another; from the time they were cadets in the Arctic Academy to their last mission against the DAFDTL when Joey had fought with them. The second scrapbook was split into five sections about the individual team members and what they were like and what they did while in service to the KND.

Christmas vacation was this week, so Wally was coming home. Joey had been able to track down the locations and get contact information about all of the other ex-Sector V members, he just had to give his brother the scrapbooks and the numbers and they would take care of the rest.

_I'm my brother's keeper…_

Joey had made the phrase into something of a mantra to keep himself convinced that he was doing the right thing.

_Stealing information, divulging secrets to the enemy. The worst kind of treason a Kids Next Door operative could ever commit!_ Was what Sarah had warned him about, she was very cautious, and her logic was undeniably sound. It was a risk, and if anyone found out, Joey would be disgracing many more people than just himself, namely the rest of his Sector, and the memory of his brother's in the Kids Next Door.

Still, he was resolved.

Wally came home Friday afternoon; he took a cab because he didn't have a car of his own to get him anywhere (he disdained cars as he did most modern conveniences he had learned to live without after spending time in Australia).

Mr. and Mrs. Beetles had been overjoyed to see him and let him know it through all of their group hugging and patting on the back as they brought him into the house. Joey knew Wally got a little annoyed with that sort of stuff, so he stayed in the house and waited for Wally to get to him. When he did though, Joey gave his big brother a firm, "feel-how-strong-I-am" hug. The kind of hug best friends give one another to see which of them will give up and run out of strength first, but since neither Wally nor Joey wanted to look like the weakling, this hug/contest went on for quite a space of time.

When it was over, both of them shook out their arms and Wally carried his suitcase upstairs to his old room and through it in, then came back down to go to dinner with the rest of the family. It was tradition. Wally was gone most of the year, then he'd come home and the foursome tried to do all the big fun family stuff that just wasn't the same when Wally wasn't around. Almost every first night that Wally was home, Dad would spare mom the tedium of cooking and take them all out to a nice restaurant. Wally would've liked to have some nice home cooked food, but he didn't mind going out as a family, so he settled for that.

Wally tried to be of good cheer at the restaurant, but he had been a little uneasy as of late. The slight amnesia that had affected him when he was thirteen had just resurfaced. Fortunately, this time it only claimed his memories of the past two months, rather than of several years. Still he was afraid if it was foretelling the dangers of his later life. What if it was some kind of early onset of Alzheimer's?

Wally had also been shocked to discover an enormous scar on his back and had immediately sought medical help, though he couldn't say how or when he had gotten the wound, and when he was psychologically analyzed he couldn't recall anything of the first few months of college. Even when Wally had been voluntarily hypnotized he had been unable to discern any memories. It was as if they'd been _erased_.

After the Beetles family came home from dinner, the parents went straight to bed, but Wally stayed up to spend time watching movies and playing video games with Joey. After watching _Violence: The Movie_ and playing several two-player games, Joey felt it was as good a time as ever to make the truth known.

"Hey Wally," he spoke after his brother beat him by a single point in a down-to-the-wire face-off, "I have something important I need to talk to you about. It's a brother-to-brother kinda thing…"

Wally heaved a slightly amused sigh. "Joey, man you aren't serious are you? You know you're way better with women than me. Take my advice… and that is take _your_ advice about it…"

"No Wally it's not about girls or me, it's about you."

"Oh?"

"Come on up to my room. I'll show you."

Wally was a little confused about what Joey meant to show him. For a moment he feared maybe Joey was trying to gain his sympathy before he broke out some really personal truth; like he was doing drugs or something. But Wally quickly silenced such fears, this was _Joey_ he was talking about. Sweet, well-mannered, charming, though admittedly clandestine Joey wasn't the kind of kid who would do such things, and it didn't take Wally long to convince himself it was ridiculous to suspect Joey of anything so stupid.

When they got into Joey's room, which was cleaner than Wally's (one of the key aspects of how they differed in personality), Joey dragged a small metal safe out from under his bed, opened the lock and pulled out two large three-ring binders. Wally was considerably confused.

"Uh… Joe are like a spy with government secrets or something, cause if you are, I think things like that are a little outta my league." Wally casually forewarned.

"No Wally… I doubt if you're gonna believe this, but… I know what happened to you… I know what happened those couple of months you forgot…"

Wally's eyes were had doubled in diameter.

"…and I know what happened in those years before your thirteenth birthday. I have facts on all the stuff that you don't remember."

"Well Joe I definitely agree with the first thing you said. I don't believe this."

"Let the pictures and the paper do the talking Wally." Joey replied as he handed the binders to his dumbfounded brother. Wally took them with trembling hands as he sat down on the edge of Joey's bed. He looked at the title on the first one, which read:

_Sector V_

_Best of the Best_

Wally spent more than half an hour pouring over every page and picture, he read each and every word slowly so as not to risk misreading the text or missing any of the facts. When he was done, he picked up the second book. This one read:

_Sector V_

_Individual Profiles_

Joey didn't take his eyes of Wally as he sat there reading. He didn't say anything either, feeling it was wisest to let his brother find out for himself and ask questions when he had any. Rediscovering several years of your childhood and a couple months of your adult life was a lot to take in.

* * *

It took Wally the better part of two hours to finish the two portfolios, mostly since he reread several sections to make sure he got every bit of info without any ambiguity of interpretation. Wally half hoped this was just Joey pulling some practical joke, but the books and pictures, they were airtight, foolproof and seemingly indisputable. It was all there and it appeared quite conclusive, but how were such things possible?

_Kids Next Door…Sector V… Numbuh 4… hand-to-hand combat expert… legendary… decommissioned… Delightful Children/Adults From Down The Lane… **Numbuh 3!**_

Wally's mind was abuzz with questions about all of these things.

"Joey how did… where… it's not…"

"Wally I'm breaking a lot of rules to tell you this, and I'm putting us both at a lot of risk as well. But we're brothers, you'd do the same for me, and you need to know the truth. All of that stuff is true. I know it looks crazy and if I were in your place I'd think it was crazy. But it's true."

The older Beetles brother ran his hands through his hair and placed one hand over his face… _how could it be? All those years, all those friends, all those things?_ Wally brought himself back into the present and composed himself as he began to ask questions of his little brother.

"Ok Joey, so… this is really for real? I went all those places and did all those things?"

"Uh-huh."

"And I was… famous for it?"

"You were and you still are Wally."

"And this…" he picked up the _Best of the Best_ portfolio and opened to the section entitled _DAFDTL_, "This is what I was doing those first few months, the ones I don't remember?"

"…'fraid so."

Wally turned the pages until he came to the collection of pictures of him and some beautiful Japanese-American girl. Codename: Numbuh 3. Alias: Kuki Sanban. The pictures were from the Rainbow Monkey World Theme park; Wally couldn't believe he had been to such a place, or doing such things with a girl.

"…and this girl? Kuki, right?"

"We confiscated those pictures when we raided the DAFDTL base in New York. Took me forever to get those, the KND Archives were gonna have it all jettisoned into space…"

"But, she… and I… we…?"

Joey nodded, smiling for the first time since the conversation began, "…In love."

"Joey I don't… don't know what to say… why did you do this? I still don't remember any of this stuff or any of these people, and I doubt if they remember me."

"But now you know that you guys were all friends, Wally. You can find them; make friends all over again if you have to. And that's what you should do Wally. Those three are the best friends you've ever had, and that girl is the love of your life."

"But I don't even _remember_ her Joey. You show me these pictures and tell me about all these things I should feel and remember but it's all in a foreign language to me. I don't know any of these people, I don't remember any of these things it says I did, and I don't know who this girl is. And if I don't remember her…"

"Don't bother about memories Wally. I didn't expect memories to just come flooding back to you. I don't think I expected you to recognize any of these people, I just meant for you to know who you used to be and whom you used to know. And now you can go find them and rediscover it all. You and the others may not remember each other, but you may still be able to be friends again. I think it'd make you happy Wally, Mom and Dad said you were always a little cheerier when these guys were your friends."

"Mom and Dad knew about this?"

"No… in fact they were pretty surprised when you turned thirteen and didn't spend time with your friends anymore. They thought you just drifted apart, they didn't know you'd been forced to forget them."

"So what now Joey? I just go and find them?"

"That's what I'd do if I were you Wally. And there are phone numbers and other ways to contact them in the Individual Profiles binder. Call them, get them all together again and show them this stuff. Trust me on this Wally."

Wally was still flabbergasted by all this and wasn't sure if he should follow his brother's advice. After all it's kind of hard to just walk up to someone and say something like: _Hey we used to be friends when we were kids we just don't remember it, look here's all the crazy, fantastically unbelievable proof in these books my brother made, do you wanna be friends now?_

The prospect of trying to meet Kuki again was even more daunting: _Hi, you don't know me and I don't know you, but it turns out we were both in love and somehow forgot each other, you wanna go out some time?"_

Wally said goodnight to Joey and walked back to his room, but his thoughts kept him awake for hours more…

* * *

The next morning, Joey had to get back to his Treehouse and see to the duties of being a leader, while Mr. Beetles went to work and Mrs. Beetles went out to do some shopping. Wally told his parents he had some homework to take care of, but he spent most of the morning thinking about the previous night. Joey had attached a paper with cell numbers; email addresses and even college addresses for all the old members of Sector V. Wally went over the names again:_Nigel Uno… _

_Hoagie P. Gilligan Jr.… _

_Kuki Sanban… _

_Wallabee Beetles… _

_Abigail Lincoln_

He sat for a long time, wondering if he should try to get online or call them up. It took two hours for him to work up the courage to call Nigel, Hoagie and Abby and it was all pretty awkward, but he managed to set up a meeting at the Neighborhood Coffee shop. Wally got Hoagie to go easily, Nigel was skeptical and cautious, and Abby had something of an attitude, but eventually he got them all to agree on meeting at the shop on January 3rd, after all the holiday hullabaloo, but before they went back to school.

It was near late afternoon by the time Wally worked up the courage to call Kuki, and he only spoke long enough to invite her, saying it was an unofficial high school reunion. As soon as she had agreed to come he hung up.

* * *

A week and a half later, Wally was sitting on a comfortable parlor chair in the corner at the Neighborhood Coffee Shop. He'd put the binders on the coffee table in front of him, ordered a cup of hot water and prepared some tea that he'd gotten from his old Master for Christmas. While he sipped peaceably, an attractive young black woman walked in the door, looked around and upon her eyes meeting Wally's she came over and sat across from him on the large sofa.

"Would you be Wally?"

He nodded.

"Abby, nice to meet you." And they shook hands. "So what is this meeting about? Or are we waiting for the others before we get started?"

As always, Wally couldn't work around a subject, he asked direct questions and expected direct answers.

"Abby do you remember much of your childhood?"

Abby furrowed her brow, thrown off by the question: "Well… no not really, why?"

"I can't remember hardly anything of my childhood either. And my little brother gave me these about a week ago," he said, holding up the binders. "You might wanna have a look."

Abby was a little weirded-out by the whole premise and direction of the conversation, but curiosity got the better of her, and she took the Individual Profiles folder and started going through it. She skimmed pretty fast, and then near the end she stopped as she came across the section headed _Numbuh 5_. Wally watched as her eyes started growing wider and her focus became glued to the page. For about ten minutes she was completely engrossed in her profile.

* * *

While Abby was reading, the door opened and in walked Nigel Uno. Now that he actually saw the man himself, Wally could see why this guy had been the leader. He didn't look particularly strong or physically imposing, but he had a swagger in his walk and a cold aura, or air of authority that he seemed to radiate. This was a man who demanded respect, and only a fool would deny it.

Nigel looked around for a moment, caught sight of Wally and walked over.

"I'm guessing you would be Wally?" The authoritative man spoke with a powerful British accent as he extended his hand. Wally shook his hand with poorly concealed deference.

"Nigel Uno? Yeah, have a seat…"

Abby was still ensconced in reading and didn't take notice of Nigel. He seated himself on the parlor chair directly across from Wally. As soon as Nigel had seated himself, the door opened and in walked a man who Wally recognized as Numbuh 2: Hoagie P. Gilligan Jr…

…_my best friend._

Hoagie spotted the three people in the corner but continued to look around the shop to see if they weren't the people had been expecting to meet. When he looked satisfied that there weren't any other potential _Wallys_ in the shop he walked over to the group. At first he expected the thin man sitting in the chair with his back to the door was the one named Wally who had contacted him almost two weeks ago, but when he saw the fitter, blonde haired man stand first he interpreted it to mean that the _he_ was Wally.

_Can't believe I'm doing this_, Hoagie thought as he stuck out his hand.

"Hoagie, I'm Wally." The blonde man said.

"Uh, hi… should I know you, cause I don't recall having met you before?"

"Um…well Hoagie you should probably have a seat. Nigel," he nodded toward the thin man, "just got here as well so I'll explain to both of you. And Abby here," he nodded at the young woman nearby who was reading with a stunned expression, "can attest to what I called you here for."

Hoagie sat down next to 'Abby' on the side nearest Wally, this left Abby between him and 'Nigel'. He looked to his right and nodded to Nigel and when he turned a little more to say hi to Abby he felt a moment of astonishment at seeing her. She was beautiful! But Wally quickly called his attention away from her.

"Well… not sure exactly how to start this… well, um, I called you guys here because I think I used to know you, and you used to know me…"

Hoagie was a little taken aback by that comment but he let Wally continue.

"You see I've… well, when I was about thirteen something happened to me. Some strange form of amnesia caused me to forget several years of my childhood. And then the same thing happened to me again just about a month ago, and I lost my memories of a few months before…"

Now Hoagie was getting interested… _the same thing happened to me!_

"Well my little brother gave me this, _wild_, explanation about what happened to me, and he wrote it all out in these binders, Abby's reading one of them now…"

Hoagie took the moment as an excuse to look back and get a better look at Abby. _Wow… she's stunning…_ he thought.

"…and it says… well, to shrink it down and give a quick summary of it all… we all knew each other as kids. And we were part of some… club or something that fought adult tyranny…"

Wally was shaking his head as he spoke, as though he didn't believe it either.

"…and when we became teenagers we had our memories erased and… you know maybe you should just look at the binders." He concluded hastily and pointed at the binder on the table.

Hoagie cringed away from it as though it was something repulsive and Nigel stood up rather suddenly.

"Sir, I haven't the foggiest idea of what this nonsense is all about, but I have no time for your practical jokes, I'm a teacher and I have a class of students that start school again in two days. So if you'll excuse me, I think I'll be going…"

"It's true," Abby spoke for the first time since either of the other two guys had come in. Nigel turned to her with the same disbelief and Hoagie was enraptured by her raspy, though somewhat sensual voice.

"I just read this whole thing about me… it says I was in this Kids Next Door thing, and my codename was _Numbuh 5_. I mean… yeah a lot of this stuff looks crazy, but it all seems to come together."

* * *

Nigel was still adamant about being done with this _nonsense_, but Hoagie, partly for wonder and curiosity, partly for his desire to make a good impression in front of this girl, picked up the second binder. He looked at the title: _Sector V: Best of the Best_, opened it and started to read.

Nigel sighed. He didn't know why he couldn't bring himself to walk out. After all he had other things to occupy his mind right now, but what if it was for real?

_It's batty and insane…_ his mind snapped.

_But what if it's true?_

He resolved to just sit back in his chair. Abby passed him the binder and he reached to take it. Without meaning to, he touched her finger as he withdrew the binder from her grasp, and he could swear he saw her turn away with a smile the denoted she was blushing.

He opened the book: _Sector V: Individual Profiles_, and started to read. _Numbuh 1_ was the first section, and he was startled to see a picture of him as a ten-year-old boy, wearing those dark black sunglasses he kept in his room at home.

_Whoa… freaky…_ he thought.

He skimmed the article, and as Abby said, everything was matching up. He could remember up until the day it said he first entered the Arctic Academy, and everything in his memories were blank up until the date he was _decommissioned_.

What a record he had!

He'd fought dozens of enemies, had been hailed as a hero, and made history time and time again. Kids everywhere had looked up to him as a role model, and whoever these kids were, they still looked up to him and tried to learn from his lessons.

_But how?

* * *

_

While Nigel poured over the events of his once life, the door opened again and Hoagie and Abby looked up from the binder they were reading to see who it was. Wally looked up with hesitation, and when he caught sight of her, he felt his heart skip a beat.

_Beautiful…_

Kuki walked in, looked around but didn't see anyone she remembered from High School. When her eyes fell on the group over in the corner and her eyes met a handsome blonde man she thought it was worth checking out. She walked over and found them all looking at some binders.

_Ooh, yearbooks. Maybe this is them…_

Wally tried to speak from where he was sitting, but it seemed his mouth wouldn't form words and the result was an awkward period of staring and half-syllables. Kuki finally decided to break the awkwardness.

"Hi, I'm Kuki. Are you Wally?" _Cause you're pretty cute_, she thought.

"…YEAH!" Wally shook himself out of his stupor. "I mean yes, I'm Wally. Nice to meet you… Kuki."

_Smooth Walls, real smooth_, he mentally chastised himself.

"So this is the reunion? Are we expecting others?" she asked.

"Uh Kuki… yes this is a reunion of sorts… but uh… it's a little complicated."

Kuki's smile began to fade.

"Here have a seat," Wally beckoned her sit in a chair across the coffee table from Abby and Hoagie. "Well, um, I'm Wally (_already said that_) and this Nigel, Abby and Hoagie."

"Hi, nice to meet you!" she announced; her characteristic cheeriness blossoming again.

"Good day to you, Numbuh 3." Nigel replied. Kuki gave a confused look.

"Sorry I think you have me confused with someone else, my name's Kuki."

"Um… here, why don't you have a look under the file that says _Numbuh 3_." Nigel said with a somewhat baffled expression. Kuki was a little confused and thought maybe Nigel was of questionable mental stability, but she took the binder anyway and turned to the section he had suggested. As Kuki read, her smile began to fade again, and in its place came a look of perplexing shock and almost fear. _How can this be?_ She thought.

Kuki tried to fake a giggle as she responded: "Um, what is this?"

"It's the truth Kuki." Wally replied. "All that happened in the years you forgot and the months past, it's all real."

She stared in wonder at her file and continued to shake her head in disbelief. "No, it can't be. I don't remember any of this. Who created these… files?"

"My little brother, apparently he's a part of this _club_ we all used to belong to. He said he wanted us all to be friends again. That we deserved to know the truth."

* * *

For another half an hour the four aside from Wally continued pouring over the binders, looking at facts about themselves and each other. Kuki was shocked at the things they had done, particularly during their service in the DAFDTL. Nigel held himself stolidly as he looked through the files. Hoagie kept flipping pages quickly as if he expected the words would change if he stopped looking at them. And Abby just look on inquisitively but without fear or wonder.

When it seemed everyone was satisfied that they had had enough of the stories of their past, they all sat back in their seats and just blinked their eyes in amazement. _They had all been friends? Knew each other? Fought together? Bled together? Laughed and cried together?_ And somehow all those seemingly wonderful moments were gone, and these few pages of data were all that remained of years and years of friendship, hardship and love?

_It couldn't be…_

"I don't believe it," Abby declared. But it came out like something of a declaration that she would try her very hardest not to believe it, rather than that she already didn't believe it. "It's not possible."

Wally defended, but he didn't sound very convinced of his position either. "I admit it sounds pretty wild but how else do you explain it? I mean I can tell by all your reactions you don't remember any of this stuff. Can you remember what _did_ happen to you, all those years ago, or what happened just a few months ago?"

They all wanted to believe that this was impossible. It was easier to assume that a random coincidence like a bump on the head or some sickness had simply given them amnesia and erased all of their memories. It was easier to think that Joey had just doctored all these photos and there was nothing in their pasts to miss or regret. In some ways it seemed much easier than the alternative of believing that so many unfortunate things had befallen them and so much had been lost. Like how someone would prefer knowing that their misfortune was just some random accident rather than some kind of offense specifically targeted at them.

But here was the evidence, it didn't look doctored, it matched up with where their memories began and ended, and it explained so many scrapes and scars on their bodies. How could they refute it?

* * *

"Well all right, but what does this mean?" Nigel asked.

"It means we were all friends once." Kuki replied, taking Wally's side.

"But we don't know… we don't _remember_. And now what difference does it really make? I mean we've all got our own lives and goals and dreams. Let's be honest, even if every bit of this is true, all our roads parted a long time ago."

"That doesn't mean we can't try to pick up where it left off." Hoagie spoke up.

"What if it _is_ all a hoax? How do we pick up from something that might not ever have been?" Abby asked. She wanted to believe, but she was too stubborn to believe so easily.

"Listen guys…" Wally began, "My brother said I should go find you because he thought it would make me happy. Now I don't think Joey would've gone to all the trouble to make such an elaborate story. And I don't know, maybe this is the truth and maybe it's all b.s. All I know is that that boy…" he pointed to himself in a team photo when they were all graduated from the Academy. "…is me. And those people all around him are all of you. And he looks happier than I can ever remember being. Maybe this thing is a hoax; and maybe we are too different to make an effective friendship. But that doesn't mean we can't give it a try."

Kuki eyes were filling with tears, Hoagie was smiling the kind of smile you give when you feel your heart's been touched, and even Abby and Nigel were beginning to form some slight smiles at what Wally was saying.

"If it's the truth then I don't want to go another day without these friends in my life. And even if it's not, some new friends wouldn't hurt."

Abby sat back and exhaled heavily. She looked to her right at Nigel, marveling at his cool demeanor so akin to her own and fascinated by his natural authoritativeness. She turned to her left to look at Hoagie, who had casually turned to face her as well. He was smiling warmly, and Abby had to admit he had some cute dimples.

And Abby made her decision by extending her hand to Hoagie.

"Abby Lincoln, nice to meet you."

Hoagie took her hand and gave it a slow, firm shake.

"Hoagie Gilligan Jr. It's a pleasure."

Nigel smiled, lowered his head and shook side to side. Then he introduced himself as well; first to Abby, then Hoagie, then Wally and finally Kuki.

* * *

For several minutes, everyone acted very cordially, just introducing themselves to each other. They ordered drinks and talked at length about what they did these days, what they were majoring in, if they had boyfriends or girlfriends and what crazy stuff they'd done on New Years Eve. The whole day they spent in that corner of the coffee shop, talking, joking and getting to know each other. They were all rather surprised when one of the staff came over to tell them they were closing; it was already _5 o'clock_.

The group walked outside, still laughing at one of Hoagie's jokes (a successful one for once) and exchanged phone numbers, emails and addresses before each headed in the direction of home. Abby, Hoagie and Nigel left in three different directions, but as Wally and Kuki started to walk home they discovered that they were both headed in the same general direction. So they walked together.

"A whole year in Australia, huh?" Kuki was rather impressed with Wally's early college stories. "What was your old master like?"

"Well…" Wally paused for a little dramatic effect, "He was humble, immensely powerful and hated just about every modern convenience except plumbing."

Kuki laughed.

"Maybe I'll introduce him to you someday. I'm sure he'd like you."

"I'd like that Wally."

A little further on they stopped in front of a reasonably big house, Kuki's.

"Well… guess this is goodnight." Wally said very simply. There were so many unanswered questions and burning feelings inside him and he wanted answers, but he also didn't want to jeopardize a new friendship by probing for deeper feelings that may not even exist. He would do his best to refrain from asking.

"So much has changed Wally."

"I know."

"I mean… this morning I got up and got dressed thinking I was just going to see some people from high school. And I was scared cause I was such a loner most of my high school life I never really made any friends…"

Wally nodded; he had been a loner too.

"And now I read about all these things that I never knew happened… about friends I never knew I had… it's just so much to take in."

"Yeah, it is a lot."

Kuki chewed her lower lip. "So… Wally, you go to MUO?"

"Yeah… well the Physical Therapy department, but yeah."

She smiled coyly as she looked away before continuing. "Well…" She took out a pen and took his hand. Feeling his heavy callused hand on the smooth skin of her fingers gave her such a feeling she almost stopped just to savor it. But she didn't want to look creepy or anything, so she proceeded to write some numbers on his palm.

"Here's my room number, cell phone number, and my email address. Come see me sometime."

"Ok, but I thought all five of us were going to go see a movie tomorrow night." He answered, a little perplexed at how forward she was.

"I know… I meant if you wanted to come see me. _Just_ me."

Kuki felt her heart swelling with excitement. She was being so flirtatious it was driving her wild, and under the surface, he was feeling much the same thing.

"Thanks Kuki… I'll, um… I'll see you tomorrow."

"Looking forward to it." She replied as he started walking down the sidewalk toward his house. He waved goodbye, then skipped and clicked his ankles together.

She giggled.

* * *

**Author's Note:** OK folks... the epilogue is next. Let me know what you thought of the story and if you think I should try a different genre or different style in my writing... or if you just want to say something about the story that'd be nice as well... 


	14. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

* * *

And here it is my oh-so-wonderful readers: the epilogue. Five years after the events in the last chapter. 

Hope you like it...

* * *

It was exactly 12:45 when the elevator opened and Kuki returned from her lunch break to start rounds for the afternoon. She had been working at the Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland for three years now and she loved her work very much. The atmosphere was very cozy, the doctors were mostly kind and respectful of her and the other nurses, the patients were often very congenial, and she had never failed to get her patients to adore her. 

Kuki had even heard from some of the doctors that parents of some patients had specifically requested that Kuki be the nurse to attend to their kids.

For Kuki, it had always been easy to win children's hearts.

Kuki stepped out of the elevator and started walking down the corridors to the individual rooms. The first patient she had to check up on was Joseph Williams, but she called him Joey since he said he preferred that name. She preferred it too; it was an easy name for her to remember. Joey was in for a tonsillectomy and he was afraid. After Kuki looked at his charts she sat down on his bed and tried to comfort him.

"Don't worry Joey. It's a very simple operation and you won't even feel a thing." She soothed him.

He was comforted by her presence and evenness of tone, but he wasn't convinced: "But the doctors are going to take something out of me. It's mine, not theirs."

"I know Joey. I know."

"So why are they taking out my tonsils?"

"Well Joey, tonsils can get sick very easily, and the doctors don't want you to get sick, so their just going to get rid of what makes you sick."

"But it's not a germ or anything, it's a part of me." For a seven-year-old boy he had a remarkable aptitude for arguing a point, and his argument was fairly logical.

"Well Joey, sometimes a part of us gets sick and doesn't get better. And we get along fine without tonsils, so having them taken out doesn't do us any real hurt. You know I had my tonsils out when I was your age."

"Did it hurt?"

"Well my throat was a little sore for a few days after, but I got lots and lots of ice cream to make me feel better. And my parents and my little sister sat with me all day, so all in all it wasn't so bad."

"So I'll be ok?"

She smiled very warmly. "You'll be just fine." And with that she excused herself to go check on the others.

* * *

As she walked out of Joey's room and headed for the next room down the corridor she heard the door to the stairway close and sensed some quiet footsteps coming up behind her. Any normal person would've felt prickling hairs sticking up on the back of their neck and start freaking out or running away. Kuki only smiled eagerly. 

Suddenly two large arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her off her feet. She giggled playfully as she soared into the air and came back down, her long black hair flying out like a parachute to catch her. She spun around and someone's lips met her own. She smiled and closed her eyes as she indulged in the sweet sensation of her husband's kiss.

Though she wanted to deepen the kiss, she reminded herself that she was at work and had to remain professional, especially around so many young and impressionable minds. So after a few blissful moments she broke the intimate fusion and the first thing she saw after opening her eyes were the wo beautiful, green emeralds she knew and loved so dearly.

"You're slipping," she teased, "I heard you from a mile away."

"Well then why didn't you turn around and catch me before I got to you?" he playfully countered.

"You know I hate to spoil surprises." And she quickly and playfully gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Walk with me, I need to check on my patients."

He put his arm around her waist and she followed suit. "I looked at that new space down by the plaza. I think it shows a lot of potential."

"Oh Wally sweetie, don't tell me you're considering starting your own dojo now. You're right in the middle of your residency."

"Just keeping my eyes open for possibilities Kuki _sweetie_." He threw the last word in with the mildest amount of sarcasm.

"I still can't believe you took that part-time position as an assistant instructor with Master Lee. You barely spend any time at home as it is."

"Well you're not exactly the omnipresent mistress of the house either."

"At least I only have one job occupying my time and leave the rest open to spend with you." She batted her eyes at him flirtatiously and he sighed in defeat.

All of their friends commented on their marriage, how the two of them had a relationship behavior that ranged across the whole spectrum of ages and maturity for male and female interaction. The two could behave like the married couple of three years that they were, or like a pair of immature children in grade school, or like an old married couple of seasoned wit, or even like a couple of adolescents in high school. Between each other, they could get away with playing any role, and everyone agreed the two made a great match, despite their radically different personalities.

* * *

The young couple walked down the hall with their arms around each other's waists, then parted when Kuki went into the next room to check on Isobel Graf. _Fractured femur,_ Kuki gave herself a mental reminder. While she went in to tend to the young girl, Wally stayed out in the hall, smiling as he watched his twenty seven year old wife tending to her duty and reflecting on all that had happened in the five years they had known each other. 

Wally and Kuki had met during senior year in college and found out that they both went to different schools but at the same university. Though they had immediately hit it off as friends, the pretext for their first encounter with each other had been rather awkward.

Neither they, nor their friends Abby, Hoagie, or Nigel, could remember what happened to them during much of their childhood, or the first semester of their senior years in college. Wally's younger brother Joey had given Wally a set of documents that had stated wild stories about how all of them had been friends when they were younger, fought adults for some worldwide club of kids, and then had their memories erased when they turned thirteen. The documents also mentioned that during their senior years they had fought for an organization of tyrannical adults and afterwards had their memories erased again.

Even Wally, the unquestioning and totally believing older brother had doubted the validity of Joey's stories, and over the years since then he still hadn't been able to recall those old memories - either of his childhood, or of the stories in which Joey said he'd played a part.

Even so, Wally had made fast and dear friends with Abby, Hoagie and Nigel. And it hadn't taken long for him to feel something extra special for Kuki.

_She really is wonderful…_ he thought, as he watched his wife sit with little Isobel, holding her hand and speak comforting words to her.

His thoughts drifted back to the summer after senior year when he had gone on a long trip with Kuki, Hoagie, Abby and Nigel. They'd traveled around England, France and several other places in Europe. While on the trip he'd spent most of his time with Kuki, always going places she wanted to go, seeing things she wanted to see. And strangest of all… he never had a problem with it as long as she was around. Then he and Kuki had gone on to visit Australia and Japan. He'd gotten to introduce her to his old master Meng Jing kuang, and she'd introduced him to her grandparents in Tokyo.

After coming back to the States and beginning graduate school they started dating. Two years later, while on a return trip to Australia, Wally had proposed to Kuki after an evening spent with Meng Jing, and his old master had given them his blessing. The wedding took place a few months later, and it had been a small one, involving only their closest family members and their three best friends. Abby had been Kuki's maid-of-honor, much to her younger sister Mushi's disappointment, while Hoagie had been Wally's best-man, much to Joey's disappointment.

As Wally's memories shifted to the honeymoon, Kuki came out of the room wrapped her arm around his waist again.

* * *

"What are you thinking about?" she asked. 

"Oh just reminiscing." He replied. "I was thinking back to the honeymoon actually. Remember Kauai? The warm thunderstorms and lush forests? The salty sea air by the coast?"

She giggled, "And how you almost drowned when we tried SCUBA-diving?"

"Oh Ha-ha-ha. How many times do I have to say the dive-master gave me the wrong weight belt."

"I remember." She sighed. "Mmm… wonderful times. I told you we should've never left."

"And I said then as I'll say now, 'it wouldn't be the same paradise if we were always there'."

"Oh you and your stoicism. Oh, Wally remember you have to clean out the living room before five o'clock tonight."

"What? Why?"

She stopped and stared at him with raised eyebrows and a look of mild disappointment. "You forgot already?"

"I can't remember having to remember anything, so I guess the answer would be…yes."

She gave an exasperated sigh. "We have _guests_… close friends coming to visit… ringing any bells yet?"

He stopped to scratch his head for a moment.

"I thought Mushi and her fiancé weren't coming for another three weeks."

Another exasperated sigh. "Wallabee Beetles sometimes I don't know what you would do without me. Does the name Abby make you think of something? Maybe Hoagie? Or Nigel?"

"Oh right! The whole gang is coming over."

"And do you remember why?"

"Umm… well it's not our anniversary… and I'm pretty sure it's no one's birthday…"

"Abby and Hoagie just moved in together, honey. And Nigel's celebrating his engagement." She started walking again, rolling her eyes as she continued on to the next room.

"Oh yeah, I remember." Wally decided to crack a joke to get a rise out of his frustrated wife. "Nigel certainly knows how to have a bachelor party, heh?"

"Oh you are so immature."

"I thought you loved that about me."

"And that is so like you to try to make excuses for your behavior by saying that I love it."

"Well you do." He teased as he grabbed her waist and spun her around. She got scared that she would fall and by natural reflex wrapped her arms around his shoulders to stop herself from hitting the floor. But he held her firmly just a foot off the ground with his face only inches from hers. When she regained her composure she smiled and pulled herself up to his lips.

"Now I'll admit _that_ is something I love about you." She conceded once he set her back on her feet. "The ability to be romantic and very apt at kissing. Now if you'll excuse me _darling_, Austin Blanke needs to have his IV replaced." And she walked into the next room.

* * *

Wally stood outside the room, leaning against the doorframe. He only had a short time to visit before he had to go home and start taking care of business like cleaning up and getting some of their finances in order. This was the sort of thing he did whenever taking a day off from his residency in Physical Therapy. His chief had told him that a day off didn't mean just a day off of work as a resident, but a day off of all kinds of work. He needed to take it a little easy to be ready to get back to his job, and he hadn't been very good about it. 

As he leaned on the doorway, listening to his wife's melodious voice his thoughts drifted away to that day back in the coffee shop where they all met, and his thoughts turned to the binders that Joey had given him. He thought back on all those stories about him as the great, legendary warrior Numbuh 4, and all the heroic deeds he had accomplished while in service to the Kids Next Door. He thought about Kuki being the valiant nurse and diversionary tactician, Numbuh 3, and all those times when she had risen to the challenge to earn the praise of kids worldwide. The Sector V that the two of them had belonged to, in which all of their friends had been members. The group of them never came to an effective conclusion about whether the whole deal with Kids Next Door and DAFDTL and all that other junk in those binders was for real or if it was simply junk, and Wally had been thinking about it a lot as of late.

What was strangest of all, Wally thought, was when his brother had turned thirteen only a few months later and afterwards couldn't remember giving Wally the binders or anything about the Kids Next Door. His parents also mentioned that Joey had stopped hanging out with his old friends.

Fortunately for Joey, he was a very charming, well mannered and all around nice guy who could make friends with just about anyone, so he hadn't been so bad off. He was a senior in high school now and had a very serious girlfriend named Sarah. Wally could see in them something of what he saw in him and Kuki, a natural connection that seemed to suggest something more of a relationship _re_discovered, rather than recently come into being.

Kuki came out of the room and Wally proceeded to walk with her, but his mind was off somewhere else.

"Where are you now?" she asked.

"I was just thinking…"

"You do an awful lot of that these days. Even more than usual."

"I was just thinking about those binders Joey gave us all those years ago. Do you remember? The ones about us as kids and then college seniors?"

"The Kids Next Door stuff?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking about that. You know we never really came to a conclusion about whether or not it was true."

"Why are you thinking about that now?" They were standing outside the next room: _Josh Sweeny – concussion from playing baseball._ But Kuki wanted to know what was so occupying her husband's mind, so she waited for him to speak.

"I don't know, it's just we have those two gaps in our memories, I wonder if those crazy stories are true."

"What's past is past and can't be changed… my sweet little Wallabee."  
He blushed at the comment, though they were married he still found that baby-talk embarrassing, but she did it all the time, sometimes just to irk him.

"I know it's in the past honey, but _why_ can't we remember? What if there were some other important things that happened? Things that that there aren't any pictures of? Things that really defined our youth, or that would've made our lives different if we knew about them now?"

"Would it change the way you feel about me?"

"Of course not… well… actually no, I take that back…"

Kuki made a mock expression of offense and hurt. "Oh?"

And Wally smiled as he leaned against the doorway.

"Who knows Kuki? There could've been something that would make me love you even more."

Kuki closed her eyes as though drifting off in a dream and smiled her broad, super-sweet smile. She spun around on her toes like a ballerina and let herself fall backwards. Stunned at her recklessness, Wally hopped to her side, shot his arms out and caught her as she fell. Once he had stopped her falling, she arced her head forward, opened her eyes, and put her hands on the sides of his face.

"So you don't love me enough already?" she asked sweetly as she kissed him. He stood her up as they broke the embrace.

"I just wonder if I could love you even more."

"Aww…" she of course knew that he loved her to pieces, but it was still nice to hear. She started to walk into Josh's room, but stopped herself a moment to tell him:  
"You know why I don't worry about the past anymore?"

"Why?"

She put her arm around his head and gave him one last peck on the lips. The kind she'd give when she was saying 'bye for now', 'love you, see you later'.

"Because I love the present too much to bother with anything else... And now you have to go clean the house and let me get back to work." And she walked into Austin's room after giving him one last quick peck.

Wally smiled, took one last look at his wife as she set to work and then jogged back to the stairwell.

_Man I love that woman!_ He said to himself, and he raced down the stairs.

* * *

_She's right_, he thought as he ran. The past was done and gone, and it was more worthwhile to just be happy with what they did remember about their lives, and be grateful that they had each other. 

_Yeah_, he thought. Having each other was worth more than any memory.

* * *

**Author's Note:** ...Oh and a quick heads up - I've got a one-shot about Wally and Kuki on their trip to Australia and Japan coming up soon. To play it safe it will be rated M for sexuality, but I encourage you to read it, I think you'll enjoy it. 

**THE END**


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